


The Power of Seven

by EnPassant4264



Category: Sonic the Hedgehog (Video Games)
Genre: Canon Rewrite, Gen, Multiple Avatars
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-24
Updated: 2020-12-04
Packaged: 2021-03-07 23:34:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 53,445
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26635927
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EnPassant4264/pseuds/EnPassant4264
Summary: When Eggman conquers the world using the seemingly unstoppable Phantom Ruby, the heroes find that they will need even more help than their own formidable powers. Their best hope lies in a new recruit who has come across seven prototype weapons seemingly designed by Eggman himself.This is a Sonic Forces rewrite that fixes lore continuity, deepens the story, and puts a unique spin on the Avatar system, while preserving the original game as much as possible.
Kudos: 3





	1. Prologue

With another fell swoop, Dr. Ivo Robotnik once again had his hands on the eerie crimson glow of the Phantom Ruby. The gem, unpredictable in its might, had seen it fit to warp itself, him, and the two despicable other beings vying for its possession into an unusual dimension.

They were all fighting in an ominous indigo space with jagged, floating structures and blocks that flickered and vibrated like TV static. He wasn't sure if it was due to the power of the Chaos Emeralds Sonic was using, some trick of that traitorous Heavy King, or simple fatigue from the Ruby's extensive use. He _had_ deduced that it was probably the location that he hurled those annoying rodents through whenever they caught up to him, but the details weren't exactly at the forefront of his mind right now. He needed to secure the Ruby and get out of there.

His Klepto Mobile soared out from the souped-up Phantom King, whom Super Sonic had knocked the gem away from once again. This game of catch had been going on for some unknown amount of time (it was hard to tell, and that's assuming time even existed in this dimension), and it had taken its toll on everyone. A sensor informed him that Super Sonic was once again on his tail, and he looked back to see the golden hedgehog outspeeding a large red-and-purple fireball that used to be the Phantom King. Grinning devilishly at the prospect of only having one foe, Robotnik set the flexible third arm installed on the back to retract. It was time to go on the offensive.

Waiting as the living rocket approached, he swiveled the mech around to punch the smaller creature with one of the mech's reinforced main arms. However, the speedster was reactive and sidestepped the blow. This created some space between them, and the mad scientist was going to take any opportunity that presented itself to him. In place of the third arm, a laser cannon rose up, and it began firing crimson blasts at its shining target. He didn't trust the Ruby to warp him out of there while the Chaos Emeralds were still around, so his plan was to banish them and the nuisance using them.

In a flash, Sonic took off again, dodging the projectiles with relative ease and beginning to circle the Klepto. Robotnik deftly piloted the mech to avoid allowing Super Sonic to get behind him, while the automatic systems on the blaster attempted to predict the hedgehog's location and nail him. Although Sonic had a propensity for running from his problems and being cheeky about it, Ivo knew that he wasn't careless.

Like boxers in a ring, they were both waiting for the right opportunity to strike past each other's guards. However, Sonic's Super state required Rings to function, and without the Phantom King to occupy Robotnik and give him a breather, he wasn't able to collect any from the fragments of the Titanic Monarch that had been warped to this place in the chaotic aftermath of their battle beforehand. The hedgehog had to strike eventually, or he would lose.

Ivo decided to reduce the rate of fire of his gun. Not only would it goad Sonic into attacking, but he was going to divert some of the energy into building up his warp drive so he could match the smaller one's agility.

Unfortunately, that chance never came. As soon as the blaster paused, Sonic went straight in. The mad scientist attempted to react and jerked the control of the right arm, but the speedster cleared it easily and slammed head-on into the Klepto. Crimson power surged through the machine, and the HUD notified several critical injuries before shutting off completely. The reality around them began caving in, and Ivo knew that it was over. He had but a brief moment to scramble for the Phantom Ruby before Sonic pulverized him with another impact. He tore out the laser with his bare hand and plunged his other one in to where the gem ought to be located. No later than that, he fell out of the Egg Mobile as Sonic broke through it, causing many of those parts to begin exploding.

Another sensation came over him as he gripped the Ruby's icosahedral form. He was quite literally seeing red, and sporadic cubes and other static much like the space around them danced across his vision. But he clutched it with his life, because the alternative was letting Sonic get it. His mastermind wracked itself for ideas, but with the Ruby running on fumes, it would barely be able to teleport itself out of there. And it's not like there was a second Robotnik that would know how to use it.

Unless… there _was_. Floating there in space, he gave one last desperate plea. The Ruby responded, and as Sonic glided right into his face to set everything normal, it sizzled. It gave a flash accompanied by its signature buzz, and everything began fading away…

 _Good luck… Dr. Eggman_.

* * *

It was common knowledge that the floating Angel Island was the resting place of the Master Emerald. But very few knew that the island had an inner sanctum where the Chaos Emeralds also sat. Knuckles the Echidna could count the number of people that know it on a regular person's fingers, and the number that _should_ know it on his gloves.

It had taken some time since the Time Eater incident, but he, Sonic, and their friends had managed to track them down without Eggman finding out and return them to their rightful location. He has since enjoyed a nice, long break from those adventures… A bit _too_ long of one. Eggman had to be planning his next scheme, and Knuckles knew the fat man would inevitably go after the Master Emerald or find out the location of the Chaos Emeralds, both of which would lead to his island.

Suddenly, a portal appeared near the Master Emerald. It seemed the universe had deigned to give him a fit of irony, and he rushed over and placed himself firmly in between the portal and his charge, in a battle pose.

Two figures emerged from the portal, and when it dissipated shortly after, he could see that they were a silver hedgehog and a purple cat – but not the fat one that he had seen a couple of times. This one was lavender and lavishly dressed, and she was carrying some sort of shiny cane. At least he recognized the first one.

"Silver? How many times are you going to come back here from the future? Isn't it ever going to stay saved for once?"

The psychic's expression soured, but the cat placed her hand on his chest and stepped in front of him. "Actually, he was with me. I… think we've met before, red one, but I don't recall when. Silver, who is this?"

"This is–"

"Knuckles the Echidna, guardian of the Master Emerald, and if you try to lay your hands on it, you will be personally escorted off the island by my fists."

" _Master_ Emerald?" the cat questioned softly. "My name is Blaze. I hail from another dimension, one with emeralds much like your Chaos Emeralds. These emeralds… they respond to the call of the scepter I hold in my hands." She held up the cane. A large emerald rested on one end, beneath the curved handle of the scepter that Knuckles could see now was inlaid with multiple other colors of jewels. "It was this scepter that opened the portal and led us here."

"But why?"

"We don't know–" Silver began.

"–for sure," Blaze finished. "The scepter and I have a mysterious connection. Sometimes even I don't understand the premonitions it has, but as its protector, it is my duty to obey them."

"That sounds like the connection I have with the Master Emerald. They must be related somehow."

"That's what I was trying to say," Silver finally managed to get out. "There are a lot of parallels between the two dimensions, but I've never been able to understand why."

"In that case… shouldn't the Master Emerald have reacted as well?" Blaze questioned.

As if on cue, the entire scenery around them changed. What used to be a blue sky and clouds was now a stone roof and dense jungle, one that was very familiar to the echidna.

"Well, there you have it! We've been transported to Angel Island's old home, the Mystic Ruins. But... this doesn't look right. How would the shrine have reconstructed itself? Is this the distant past?"

"Knuckles, above you!" Silver called.

Out of instinct, Knuckles rolled forward, narrowly dodging a large water droplet that fell from directly above. He turned around to see the water form into a humanoid shape, with a small brain and the vestigial remains of bones in its limbs. "Chaos?! This must be the past… We killed Chaos before…"

The liquid being remained silent. Instead of taking on a fighting stance, it began oozing backwards, right onto the gemstone that it had separated from its successor guardian.

Flying into a rage, Knuckles leaped forward. He attempted a haymaker right into the water god's weak point, its brain. In an instant, its hands came up as jets of water and blasted him away. By this point, the Emerald and Chaos were both starting to glow green, and the seven podiums that ringed the shrine began forming beacons that matched the colors of the Chaos Emeralds.

Using his psychokinesis, Silver caught Knuckles before he was knocked out of the shrine and went tumbling down the stairs. The echidna took a moment to recover and figure out why he had stopped, then was quickly placed safely on the ground.

"Knuckles, what exactly is Chaos? What is it doing?" the gray hedgehog asked, the cyan lines on his gloves glowing brightly.

"Chaos used to be the guardian of the Master Emerald, long before I was ever born. It got sealed in the Emerald and then Eggman broke it out. We don't have time for the full story right now; all you need to know is that it's about to use the seven Chaos Emeralds to transform and flood the entire island."

"What?! How do we stop that?!"

"Leave that to me," Blaze declared. She stepped in front of the two others and turned towards them. She was tightly gripping the Jeweled Scepter, and she and it were both beginning to glow orange. "This must be what I was called here for. Only I have the power to stop this right now. You two need to flee. If this involves Eggman, it will only be the beginning. Find Sonic and the others."

"I can't just leave the Master Emerald here!" Knuckles objected.

"Blaze…" Silver began. He knew she was right, but he was reluctant to let her go. This scenario felt… familiar, somehow.

The cat couldn't await their response, and she turned her attention towards the shrine. The Chaos Emeralds had appeared on their stands and began circling around the swelling mass of water. She kneeled, and seven more emeralds that had identical coloring but a rectangular cut flashed into being around her.

"…Okay, I trust you. Knuckles, unless you can suppress the Emeralds _right now_ , we'll have to come back for it once the battle is over."

Knuckles looked ready to punch him, but he relented. "Argh! Fine. Let's go."

The two made a hasty escape from the shrine, which looked like a lighthouse with how bright the sets of Emeralds were glowing from within. Neither of them noticed as they began their descent from the island that the surrounding valley, the village within it, and the old parts of the shrine had vanished as quickly and mysteriously as they appeared.

The entire area then exploded into steam as the battle between the two empowered individuals began. Watching from a safe distance was a small, round mech with an equally round human sitting in it, holding a crimson gem and grinning wildly.

"The first test of the Phantom Ruby is a resounding success! A fake Chaos using the _real_ Emeralds? I won't even need to worry about collecting them at this rate! Now that I've scared off the guardian of the Master Emerald, I'll have all the power I could need… Just you wait, Sonic. Even you won't be able to stand up to what I have planned this time!"


	2. Stage 1: Lost Valley – Wild Zones

Although Sonic had travelled the world and seen its beauty from space multiple times over, he always found himself coming back to Green Hill when he wanted to relax. It was where he grew up, after all, and sometimes he got nostalgic for the good ol' days before Eggman started his scheming. Not that he ever minded the thrill of cracking robots open and taking on whatever machine or angry deity of the week the mad genius cooked up, but sometimes he'd like not to have the obligation of saving the world every time. He was strong, and he had made many friends who would always help him out, but some of Eggman's more devious plans had him questioning what would happen if he failed.

These thoughts drifted through his mind as he laid lazily in the green grass, taking in the sun. Maybe a nap would let him forget about it. Or a chili dog. One of the joys of running all the time was that there was no such thing as a wrong time for food, which meant he could eat as many chili dogs as he wanted.

A beeping interrupted the peace and quiet. It was his wrist communicator that Tails had made for him a long time ago. Turning on his side, he brought it up to his face so he could use it.

**Sonic:** "What's up, buddy?"

**Tails:** "Sonic! Eggman's forces are surging into the City! We need you here, now!"

The City was the name of the only settlement on South Island. In fact, it was one of the only permanent settlements of anthropomorphic animals (or Mobians, as the humans called them) in the world, as the island was one of few locations where they occurred naturally. The humans didn't have a name for it, as they didn't even know of the island's existence until recently, long after the City had been known as such. You can thank Eggman for spoiling it when he started kidnapping the animals here.

**Sonic:** "Hold on, Tails! I'm on my way!"

In a flash, Sonic was up on his feet. He immediately regretted that decision as the blood rushed to his head, darkening his vision and causing him reactively to hold his hand up to his forehead. Shaking it off, he burst into a sprint towards where he knew the City was. It wasn't long until he saw some of Eggman's robots marching along, though he didn't know what they would be looking for out here.

Calling upon his inner power, he surrounded himself in a blue aura as he activated his Boost. The robots didn't even see him coming before he pelted right through them all, ripping them apart on impact without even slowing. _If only Eggman built ears into these things. They might actually hear me break the sound barrier when I do that,_ he thought. _Just kidding, I'd still own them all the same._

He kept the Boost going as he ran up a larger hill, jumping at the apex for maximum momentum. As he soared, he was surprised by what he saw in the distance. Much of Green Hill was being transformed into Sand Hill by a huge sandworm digging up all the soil. From this distance, he couldn't tell if it was robotic or otherwise being controlled by Eggman. He couldn't imagine how else his neighborhood could turn into a desert like this, but he also hadn't been here in a while, so maybe it was like, climate change or something.

He hit the ground again running, dismissing the train of thought for another time. The sand was rapidly approaching, and it seemed to continue all the way through and past where the City was. He weaved through some more complicated terrain, the contrails from his speed causing a couple of the desiccating pillars to wobble or outright crumble.

He hopped over the end of a ledge only to see that beneath it was a sand flow going into a hole in the hill up ahead. Unable to stop himself, he went for a slide, curling up as he entered the hole. It dumped him unceremoniously onto the ground in a growing sand pile.

"Pffft!" he exclaimed, spitting a glob of sand out of his mouth. "Thanks, Eggman! I'm going to be knocking sand out of my shoes for weeks!"

After a quick brush-off, he resumed his journey towards his objective, feeling slightly more disoriented. There was nothing but sand and dried grass everywhere. It was saddening to see one of his favorite places so soiled. Clean up was going to be a chore – he didn't know anything about gardening.

Soon there was a road that he knew lead into the City, and he found more robots blocking his path. They quickly became as ruined as the area, joining some much larger robot parts that were scattered around. Sonic did not want to know where they came from.

He ran over a bridge that spanned a now-dry pond, which he remembered signaled city limits. However, he spotted large pillars of smoke before he saw any buildings. Seeing this, Sonic reconnected with Tails.

**Sonic:** "Tails, I'm on approach. Where's Eggman?"

**Tails:** "No sight of him. But we've got a bigger problem on our hands."

**Sonic:** "What could be a bigger problem than Egghead?"

**Tails:** "Metal Sonic's here, and somehow, so is Zavok."

**Sonic:** " _Zavok_? Didn't we toss him in a pit of lava back on the Lost Hex?"

**Tails:** "Apparently he survived. What's more, I've gotten reports of a floating creature with a red aura flying around and helping them. Some say it's Shadow, but others are claiming it's somethin*khlejshj*…

Crackling static began to interrupt Tails' transmission. When it came back, the fox was whispering.

**Sonic:** Tails?

**Tails:** This is wei*rdsh*… Whatever that thi*nshg* is, it mu*kshtshbe* clo*ksh*…

**Sonic:** Hang on, I'll be there soon!

Sonic redoubled his speed, re-activating his Boost. The cloud of dust behind him began to shrink as the road turned to cobblestone, and he was soon surrounded by a blur of faded rainbow from the pastel colors city's buildings. He could make out people on the streets as he passed by, and they were fleeing in the opposite direction that he was. Up ahead, he noticed a large squadron of Egg Pawns terrorizing some citizens by backing them into a corner.

Using his momentum, he curled up and angled himself to begin spinning towards the side. This curved his trajectory, allowing him to come in at the right angle to avoid hitting the Mobians with either himself or the robots being sent flying by his attack. Some of them slammed into buildings, crumbling into a pile of parts and rubble. A few skidded along the ground and survived, but they were quickly dispatched with Homing Attacks.

He stuck his landing, facing towards the people. They began applauding him.

"Is everyone okay?"

"We are, thanks to you," one of the civilians said.

"That statement was a grave mistake," a projecting voice behind Sonic announced. It sounded like it was echoing, but almost like a stutter. He turned around to see a masked creature with a long tail that was radiating a sickly red. The light was coming brightest from a strange jewel embedded into its chest.

"You must not know who I am. I've stopped a dozen wannabe villains just like you!"

Without saying anything further, Sonic sprinted towards the thing. As soon as he jumped to deliver some spine-on-loser action, he was suddenly knocked aside by an incoming yellow projectile. He landed flat on his back, but quickly crouched into position to prepare another attack. However, the figure that stood now before him caused him to hesitate. It looked a lot like he did, except it had black spines that faced outwards instead of back.

"Shadow! Is that you?"

Then he almost fell over as the ground shook from an impact behind him. He turned to the side to see the imposing figure of Zavok, with no signs of his extremely hot bath to be seen. His observation was cut short when he had to tumble to the side to avoid a pair of dark-colored missiles that flew at him from either side. They circled around and landed, revealing themselves to be one navy and one black robot.

"Metal!" Sonic shouted. "And… Gemerl?"

He was surrounded. The mysterious foe that summoned them floated into the air and began laughing at him.

"Ahahaha, but have you defeated them all at the same time? I didn't think so."

Sonic looked around, almost panicking, for a way out of this. Running wasn't going to be an option when both Metal Sonic and Shadow were able to keep up with him; rushing them down wouldn't work either due to Zavok's bulk and Gemerl's combat prowess that it inherited from Emerl.

"Sonic!" a voice called. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a yellow figure swoop in from above, and he jumped up to grab the outreached hands that came with it.

"Cutting it kind of close there, buddy!" Sonic responded. Tails flew over a half-destroyed wall and landed down, taking out his trusted Miles Electric.

"I need to know what's going on with this guy. How's he doing this?"

"I've been trying to figure that out, Sonic. But these readings are all messed up! They don't make any sense!"

Their conversation was interrupted by a red fist smashing through the wall between them, followed by its body leaping through and turning its attention towards Sonic.

"How about fight now, smarts later?"

"Deal." Tails took flight as Sonic began to run away, but then everything turned red and something began pulling him back. The fox turned to see whatever strange being was masterminding this operation had called upon the gem on its chest, and he was being forced towards it as if it had a gravitational pull. He began accelerating rapidly, but instead of going to the gem, he was flung straight into Sonic, who had been pulled from the other direction.

The duo rebound apart and fell to the ground. Sonic was immediately set upon by the rogues' gallery, engaging in a deadly dance of almost pure defense to avoid being hit. What he wasn't expecting was for the ringmaster to step into the fray himself, and as he held back a fist from Gemerl, he was swept to the side by the masked mammal's long tail, sending him careening into a building.

"Running out of time here, Tails!"

Tails didn't know what to do. He was a great complement to Sonic's fighting style with his flight and their coordination, but on his own, he wasn't proficient in martial arts and relied on his inventions to keep himself safe. Whoever this was knew that and clearly was not going to have any of it.

He watched observantly and kept trying to scan the enemies, but he simply could not see a way he could intervene. All he could do is watch his best friend get tossed around like a volleyball before being slammed into the ground. He did not get back up.

" **SONIC!** " he cried.

The five victors all turned towards him, with the red monster moving to the front. "Haha, MWAHAHAHAHA! Go, run away in fear, and tell everyone of how you bore witness to the defeat of the so-called hero, Sonic the Hedgehog! I know who you are, fox. You would do well not to repeat your friend's mistake."

Overwhelmed by this point, Tails obliged. He picked up his tails, too ashamed to fly, and fled.


	3. Stage 2: Ghost Town – City

News spread quickly about the events of Sonic's death and the fall of Angel Island. Without the Chaos Emeralds or the two most powerful allies that would be able to use them, morale took a major blow. Over the next six months, Eggman's seemingly endless army swept across the planet, conquering all of it. All, except for a small pocket of resistance holding out in the same City the nightmare started in.

* * *

A stream of flames lit up the confines of an otherwise dim, brick basement in the City. It was not being razed by yet another raid to take over the last .01% of the world this time, though. Instead, it was coming from the hand of a humanoid bird.

Unlike actual birds, he did not have wings or talons; instead, he was wearing gloves and simple yellow shoes to shield his appendages from any stray embers shooting out of his handheld flamethrower. He wasn't wearing anything else, as he didn't want to soil his suit. With ruby red plumage covering his body, there weren't any modesty issues he had to worry about anyway, as if it was anyone's concern when he was hiding, alone, in a city-turned-militarized zone.

_Heh, Militarized Zone. Fits with the naming theme around here._

The bird released the trigger, allowing the room to go dark. He wasn't bothered by it, having excellent vision due to being a bird. The barrel of his gun, a tri-part valve in the shape of a large red fireball, closed over the nuzzle, and he began inspecting it for signs of overheating. You see, this gun wasn't his originally. He found it one day, during a counterattack after the Resistance commandeered a weapons supply from Eggman. He could recall the memories vividly…

* * *

He and four others had been assigned the watch that morning. Light blue wooden crates of a variety of sizes were stacked up inside one of the larger buildings that was still standing, all of which bore bright red, laughing faces with moustaches on every side.

Suddenly, half the building blew up in front of them. Sunlight poured in as the roof was blasted apart into many pieces, and most of the crates burst like they were made of papier-mâché. The source of the explosion was made obvious immediately, as an immense crimson glow came from where the wall used to be. No one knew its name, so they had taken to calling it the Red Mask.

He scrambled for a hiding place in the debris – he assumed the others did as well, but the smoke and flying bits everywhere had scattered their positions so he didn't really know where they were anymore. He happened to find the smoldering frame of one of the larger crates that was still relatively in-tact.

The Red Mask floated near, and the air felt charged with an unsettling static-y feeling. "What worthless toys. Did you really think your little movement could stand up to me with those?"

"We'll find out, won't we? Fight back!" the bird heard one of his teammates say. He peeked through the crack of the crate to see that all of the others had picked up strange weapons with large orbs the same color as the crates. They fired white blasts at the masked thing, and everyone was surprised when the shots actually landed.

"How…!" the Red Mask mumbled. Clearly angered, it conjured up a warhead and dropped it on their heads. The explosion tore apart the crate he was hiding behind, and he and its contents were tossed back into the large chunks of plywall that littered the ground.

In his daze, he could see that the monster had noticed him, and was now overhead.

"I can taste your terror, child… all that anxiety and doubt. It's delicious."

Scrambling on his back, his arm grasped something metal and vaguely firearm-shaped. He pointed it forward, and he could see that it was similar to what the others were holding. Similar… but not the same. He was trembling so much that he had to use both his arms to hold it remotely steady.

"Give in to your fear. Flee, screaming, and I'll let you live."

He could still hear the haunting laughter that monster gave off.

* * *

He opened his eyes back to reality, unaware that he had entered a flashback like that. Whatever the weapon he had was, it might be the only way to harm the Red Mask. Ever since that day, he had worked tirelessly to restore it to functionality.

Remembering what he was supposed to be doing, he resumed his examination. All the parts seemed to be in check, and the fuel cell was still as mysteriously full as ever. He allowed his beak to enter a grin. At last, Ledge the Cardinal, crafty descendant of the advanced Babylonians, would finally fight back against the Eggman Empire!

* * *

Tails looked down upon the wrecked City, his twin tails whirling as he made his rounds. Every day was the same as the last day, and the next one. It was a routine: look for survivors, destroy Eggman's robots, try to find supplies. Miles was smart, so he was one of the ones leading the think tank to come up with a strategy against Eggman. But they were running short on, well, just about everything that they needed to have any success. Sometimes, he needed some alone time to fly around and pretend like he was free.

He couldn't accept that Sonic was really… gone (he still can't say it), but there was no empirical evidence to say otherwise. Sonic was always one to run on his feelings. He never needed a reason to keep on fighting. That's one of the things Tails liked most about him, because he pushed him to put aside his insecurities and just do what was right.

As much as he wanted to channel those feelings and keep up his courage, without Sonic himself there… he only had so much in him. He kept it up long enough to beat Eggman the last time Sonic was presumed dead, but that was six minutes, not six months. It had been just too long without order in his life, and he was suffering for it. Everyone was. He had heard some of the things the others had said about him when they thought he wasn't there.

His instincts told him to stop moving, casting himself out of his thoughts. Something had caught his eye, but what? He peered closer to the landscape under him. Still nothing that stood out to him. _Wait… is that… fire?_ And he wasn't referring to the blazes that were always around anymore. _Yes, down there! That fire is being produced by something! Someone must be under attack!_

Wasting no more time, he swooped down to get a better look. The fight was happening in a residential area, with lots of tight streets and multi-story housing complexes. As he got closer, he noticed that the situation wasn't what he thought. There was a flamethrower, and there were robots, but the fire was headed _towards_ the robots, melting them into slag.

"Hey!" he called. The Mobian turned towards him as he came in for his landing. It was a red bird, wearing a white suit jacket and brown pants. He – definitely a male from the way it fit him – was similarly adorned with a white top hat and brown gloves. At least the boots, also brown, were somewhat designed for travel. It really was an odd fashion choice for a ragtag survivor. And how did he keep it so clean?

"Is that the one and only Tails? Just the kind of person I wanted to see!" the bird greeted.

"Sorry, do I know you? What are you doing out here alone? It's not safe."

The bird held out his gloved hand. "Ledge the Cardinal, pleasure to meet you. Do you remember the weapons that your Resistance pilfered a few months ago?"

Tails raised an eyebrow at him, awkwardly accepting his handshake. "Yes? They were all destroyed by the Red Mask."

Ledge held out his other hand, which Tails realized had been hidden behind his back. He was holding a strange gun with a big red fireball on the front of it and a hose. "I was on the patrol when it happened, and I managed to save one. Get this: Whatever it runs on, it was able to hurt that monster."

The two-tailed gadgeteer paused for a moment. The rational part of his brain wouldn't accept a claim like that so readily, but it was hard not to eat up even the possibility of an advantage. "Really? How did it survive the wreckage?"

"It didn't. It took me all this time, but I was finally able to restore it!"

"No way! You were able to recreate Eggman technology?"

Ledge quickly dipped into a bow. "No need to thank me. Watch in amazement!"

Before Tails could stop him, he did something stupid and ran out onto a main road right towards a patrol of Egg Pawns. He pointed the flamethrower at them very confidently, which switched to terror as the gun didn't produce any fire. The robots turned his way, showing no emotion, and raised their arm cannons at him.

Suddenly, he was swept off his feet and pulled into the air. The fox had grabbed him and began taking evasive maneuvers to avoid the return fire. Sirens began going off, and Tails could already see one of the black Death Egg Robots come to life. Those things wouldn't stay down no matter how many times they got defeated.

He landed quickly but didn't let go of Ledge and didn't stop moving. "Now see what you've done? C'mon, we need to get back to the HQ, quickly!"

Although Mobians came in various colors, sizes, species, and abilities, one constant about them was that they could move fast. Tails guessed it was due to having a build that combined humans, known for long-distance running, and various animals that had high body-length-per-second speeds. However, he was an engineer, not a biologist, so it was anyone's guess.

Scientific thoughts aside, it meant he didn't have to worry about slowing down so Ledge could keep up. They raced down the roads at a moderate pace, being careful to avoid tripping on bits of rubble or gravel created due to the fighting or on water puddles spilled from burst pipelines. Up ahead, a fence showed that the road came into an end. Beyond it, the City sloped downwards towards the sea, like a giant terrace.

"Going up!" he informed Ledge, hopping into the air and getting his tails spinning. He quickly turned, grabbed the bird's other hand, and cleared the fence while flying backwards rapidly. He had to say, it felt very stylish.

"Think you can manage a rooftop run for a bit?" he asked.

"I would disgrace my feathery heritage if I couldn't, even though I can't say I've ever travelled this quickly before."

"It's kind of ironic that I'm the one that can fly here, isn't it?"

Tails slowed down a little and let go of Ledge, making sure he landed on a roof and was safely moving before turning around again.

"Hey, wait, I see something over there. What is it?" the Cardinal asked.

The fox briefly looked back to see the weapon being pointed off to the right. However, he couldn't see anything peculiar on the horizon.

"What is what?"

"There are specks flying at us at a high velocity."

"I have no idea wha- ohhh, I see them now."

Now that they had gotten closer, he could make out a bunch of small, shiny things that were indeed flying and headed straight towards them.

Ledge hurdled another rooftop. "We should be concerned about those, right?"

"Nah, they're probably just Buzzbombers. There's no way they could land a shot while we're on good pace like this."

The look on the bird's face did not seem convinced.

"Something about the way these robots are approaching seems different than a swarm of bees."

Ledge's suspicions were confirmed when the Badniks intercepted them. They weren't bees at all, but birds, about ten in total, and they all began swooping in for a divebomb. As he tried to slow down and sidestep them, he tripped on the rim of the building he was on and went tumbling down onto the street.

"That's _not_ good!" Tails exclaimed. Off his belt, he took out two of his homemade Ring Bombs. The Balkiries swung around, formed up into a V-shape, and began a coordinated second flyby. Tails bode his time, waiting for the exact right moment to jump over the cluster and drop one of the bombs. It landed squarely on the lead Badnik and burst into a bunch of cheap metal rings. All of them flew straight onto another robot, causing it to spark and fall from the sky.

These weren't actual Rings, but special electromagnetic devices that happened to be ring-shaped due to coils being the most efficient way to produce a B-field. The aesthetic of it being a fake Ring was just too good to pass up. Nowadays, though, he didn't have the luxury of such a thing, so they were simple cylinder casings.

With the foes dispatched, he flew down to where Ledge was leaning up against a building. That was a good sign – he was conscious and didn't appear to have any injuries that would incapacitate him.

"You okay?"

"I should be able to walk it off. Those weren't Buzzbombers, by the way."

"I'm aware." The fox looked around them. "We should play it safe. I get the feeling Eggman's robots have more tricks up their sleeves. From here, the best way is probably through the maintenance tunnels."

"I object to entering such a rancid space."

_Can't possibly make it easy, can you? Fine, I'll go for the pride attack._

"We can't risk getting surprised by Eggman's robots again while you're unarmed and injured. If that weapon is really as important as you say it is, I'm afraid we don't have any other options."

The bird looked startled, then defeated. "Touché."

Tails turned around and flew to the base of a concrete wall that separated two tiers of the City. Ledge followed, somewhat hesitantly, as the fox scanned the wall for a door or some other opening to the tunnels.

It didn't take long, as there was a large hole punched in it from an explosion a couple blocks down. The duo quickly jogged over and looked inside. There were a few bright lights built into the walls, but a decent amount of them had been destroyed, and the angle of the sun didn't bring much natural light in.

As they began travelling through the gloomy tunnel, Ledge pointed his flamethrower forward and pressed the trigger again. A click echoed through the tunnel, but still no fire was produced. "I don't understand why this is malfunctioning. It worked perfectly when I tested it."

"I mean, you patched together heavily damaged enemy technology, in four months, with scavenged parts and no blueprints, prototypes, or comparable items to speak of. It's a miracle you got it working the first time."

"Yes, but it's not very useful if it only worked once."

Tails slowed them down to a stop and looked him right in the eye.

"Look. I know it's hard not to want to give up. But if there's one thing I've learned from all of my time with Sonic – and now without him – it's that we have to have each other's backs. No matter how many times someone falls, you help them back up and you keep on running."

Tails took a steadying breath. "We've been hoping for a miracle these last six months, but the truth is, we have to make our own miracle. If your weapon truly can hurt the Red Mask, then it may be that very miracle, but we still have the responsibility of seeing it through. We'll find a way to make it work again. I promise."

The cardinal didn't need bird vision to see the determination in Tails's eyes, but they were also moist with tears. "Thank you. You're absolutely correct."

Tails held out his fist. "We _will_ stop Eggman and finish this war."

"For Sonic."

And they fist bumped.


	4. Stage 3: Spaceport – North Base

Knuckles sat on the side of a road, its edge overlooking the water at the island's shore. Some planks of wood from the City's destroyed docks still floated nearby as a reminder that there was no peaceful getaway from this endless battle.

 _If only the battle were only against the enemy,_ he thought, letting out a sigh. Tails had nearly had another meltdown before his midday watch, and handling that always got the echidna's blood boiling. Once the fox had left, Knuckles decided he wanted to step out and cool off so he could do his duty with a level head.

What had started out as stubborn searches for the Chaos and Master Emeralds had turned into him becoming the commander of the Resistance as a whole. For having grown up completely isolated from society, he was pretty good at it! Most of the time, anyway.

He stood up and stretched. His knees popped, and he cracked his signature knuckles, shaking out his hands. It was a good time to head back.

Then the siren went off. It was _definitely_ a good time to head back. He put some skip in his step and made the short trip to HQ.

* * *

The automatic door to their control room opened before Knuckles' authori- err, eyes. The room wasn't much – it was an underground bunker with brick walls and no connecting rooms. It was their only control center because it had one of the few generators in the City that was still functioning. As he entered, he saw most of the usual faces gathered around: Silver, Amy, and the Chaotix. That meant Tails wasn't back yet.

"Knuckles! What's the sitrep, commander?" Silver asked.

"Happy to see you're all still alive. I should really be the one asking you that, though. Do any of you know the cause of the alarm?"

"Didn't you get Tails' message?" Amy responded. Knuckles looked sheepishly at his communicator, which he had shut off when he went outside.

"He said he found a survivor from the city. He also mentioned something about Eggman's weapons and being able to harm the Red Mask. He was really excited about it."

"Harm the Red Mask? Isn't that a little far-fetched?" Knuckles doubted.

"That's a question they'll have to answer when they get here," Espio stated.

It wasn't long before the automatic door opened once again, and in stepped a familiar yellow fox, followed by a shorter red bird dressed like this was a business meeting.

"Ah, there you are!" Vector saluted. "Who's your friend here?"

The bird stood up tall and brought forward a strange red firearm, holding it out in both of his hands. "My name is Ledge the Cardinal, and I present to you what could be the answer to our problems."

Ledge flinched as a yellow-jacketed yellowjacket flew into his face and began inspecting his attire and his weapon.

"Hm… doesn't look like much," Charmy assessed.

"Neither do you, Charmy, but I still manage to find a use for your pointy butt!" Knuckles teased.

The bee giggled.

"So how's that gonna solve our problems?" Vector questioned.

Tails took to the center of the room, and all eyes were upon him. "This brave kid survived a battle with the Red Mask when it destroyed those weapons we stole a few months back. He made it out in one piece, _with_ one of the weapons, and was mostly able to restore it to use."

"Mostly?" Espio inquired.

"Yes, uh, well, it had a little bit of trouble when I attempted to incinerate some robots with it. It may or may not have been the impetus of an alarm and robot attack." Ledge admitted.

Knuckles let out a guffaw. "So that was _your_ doing, then? You may want to work on your first impressions a little bit."

"Oh, please, that's not so bad as far as our introductions go," Amy reassured. "I first met the Chaotix by getting in a fight with them!"

"Yeah, I remember that!" Vector added. "We thought you guys had stolen that Chao, but then it actually belonged to one of you…"

The room fell silent after his comment. It had reminded them that they hadn't seen Cream, her family, or Big the Cat since the takeover began. For all they knew, Gemerl had killed them when it went rogue and joined the Red Mask.

"Uh, anyway…" Silver said to break the tension, "this weapon of yours doesn't work, right? How long do you think it will be before we can start using it?"

"Between Tails and myself, hopefully by tomorrow. I had it in working order just this morning."

"Well, we've got no time to waste, then!" Tails said conclusively. "Let's get to work!"

* * *

The next few days were a productive turn of events. Tails discovered that what Ledge had thought was a fuel reservoir was actually a fuel _generator_ , and the weapon was an easy fix with that correction in mind. They didn't know how it worked, but all that mattered for the immediate moment was that it did.

Among the few supplies the Resistance had salvaged was a crate full of grappling hooks, and it didn't take long to create and train Ledge in the use of a wrist-mounted one to make use of his naturally acrobatic build.

However, the most important news came when they heard from their spy in Eggman's rebuilt space station, the Death Egg…

Ledge and Espio returned from a joint watch/training session to find everyone else gathered around in anticipation. Knuckles was at the head of the room, pacing around and seeming very antsy. When the door opened, they all stopped what they were doing, all of their heads turning in the direction of the entrants.

"Is there a problem?" Espio asked coolly.

"Quite the opposite," Knuckles answered. "Now that we're all here, I have some incredible news to share! Sonic is **alive!** "

"No way! That's excellent!" Silver exclaimed, a firm smile appearing on his face.

Amy, on the other hand, burst into tears on the floor. "What?! Oh-ho-ho, thank goodness! I knew it! **I knew it!** I've been dreaming of this moment!"

Tails and Vector placed comforting hands on her shoulders.

"He's captured in the orbiting prison," Knuckles informed. "Rouge says he's in a solitary confinement cell, and they've been torturing him this whole time."

"That's horrible! We _have_ to rescue him," Charmy suggested.

"I've already thought of a plan. Eggman's space port is located in his northernmost base near Holoska – that's how Rouge snuck aboard. If we can get there too, we can 'borrow' a shuttle. C'mon, guys. Who's up for an old-school style jailbreak?"

* * *

It was times like these that Ledge questioned his costume choice. As stylish as his suit was, it provided very little protection against the raging cold of the North Base. He was going to need to use his weapon as a makeshift iron to re-crease it because of how wet it was getting from the snow.

He looked down upon the broad metal complex from the overlooking mountain ridge. From here, it appeared to be a mess of buildings, rails, ports, and runways, but they knew that Eggman would obsess over every detail. It was laid out for efficiency; all of the trains would be on-time and all of their contents would have a purpose. You can't fit the world on the seat of your pants.

Fortunately, that meant they could calculate their own moves around his schedule and expect the same reliability. They weren't able to extract the entirety of Eggman's operation plans, though, so they still needed to figure out where the shuttle was launching from. All eight of them had devised their own route to cover the base's launch pads as quickly as possible.

Knuckles turned and faced everyone. "Alright, gang, you know the plan. We have 20 minutes until the next shuttle launch. Split up and find it. We don't leave without anyone standing here right now. I know stealth isn't everyone's strong suit, but we want to avoid being caught here if at all possible. Any questions?"

Ledge wanted to say something. This was his first mission, after all, and he was really feeling the nerves. Although they had all been living in fear of death for the last six months, the stakes were higher than ever now that they were breaching Eggman's base directly. There was no one left to save the world, so they could not afford any mistakes.

But he couldn't show them that. He had to keep poise. They were depending on him. And for that… he needed to deviate from the plan a little bit.

"All good here," Silver answered.

"Okay! Good luck out there."

Everyone immediately took off in their own directions. They had no time to lose.

Ledge's route went west, towards the supply centers and his real destination, the computer rooms. He hopped and skidded down the snowy slope rapidly, landing on a set of huge pipes that protruded from the mountainside and connected with an elevated bridge that led to the supply center.

He ran along them, but as he got closer, he saw that the pipes sloped downwards towards the ground and ran to the center of the base. When he had read the floor plan, he expected them to attach to the underside of the bridge and he could get on it that way. From all the way down here, the road was much too high to jump up, even with his good jumping ability.

 _Okay, grappling hook time… it's just like Espio taught you… use your weight and swing around and up…_ he reminded himself.

He eyed up his shot to a light structure overhanging the road and fired. He watched with bated breath as it tethered to the lights, and he jumped when he felt it begin to pull him up.

Quickly releasing the hook, he landed smoothly on the service road. Because the launch was soon, all of the supply vehicles had already pulled into the base, at least according to the schedule. So, it was a surprise to him to see a bunch of robots lining the road still.

That was okay, though, because it meant he could finally turn up the heat. Holding his incendiary gun confidently in hand, he pressed the trigger, and a roar of flames came out of the nozzle.

He ran down the road, very conspicuously turning them all from cold steel into hot trash. It sprayed up a cloud of powdered snow ahead of him which quickly sublimed into steam as he blazed past. Ledge was thriving on the adrenaline and satisfaction of seeing his handiwork finally work, for **real** this time.

 **Vector:** "Stay focused, rookie! We're here to find a shuttle!"

 **Ledge:** "My apologies. I needed to redeem myself."

Up ahead, Ledge could see that multiple roads converged into what he knew to be a checkpoint station, and above that were a series of catwalks that crossed the roads. He knew he would need to sneak up and around, but that's easier said than done when it's a military-grade base and there's a fifty-foot drop beneath you.

_Hm… From this trajectory… Aha!_

Another shot of the grappling hook and Ledge was swinging between two of the booths that would have noticed his presence if he had walked past them on the roads. Now in the middle of the air, he shot the hook at the catwalk and rocketed towards it. He caught the railing and pivoted his momentum so he would hit the ground running.

There was another line of robots ahead of him, and his flames either sent them careening off the edge or melted them into pools of steel that drained through the grate flooring of the catwalk. Ledge made sure to watch his footwork so he wouldn't step in any of that.

The objective was deeper in the base, though, so he hopped back down onto the farthest roads and pushed further.

 **Espio:** "Espio here. I had to engage enemies in the orbital tunnel. I think I can hold them off, but expect heightened security."

_Espio's supposed to be the silent ninja. If he's getting caught, then that can't be good._

Ledge decided that he ought to stick to high places if possible. His next opportunity to ascend was a series of square platforms that he had to guess would be used to lift cargo. Today they were going to be lifting him, and he performed a series of leaps to scale them quickly.

Unfortunately, they didn't lead anywhere. There was a gap between the entrance and the next building complex, and the only notable thing up here was another set of huge pipes that crossed through the middle.

"Here we go again…" he muttered under his breath.

He reached out his arm and watched the tiny claw launch itself at the pipes. When he felt it tug on his arm, he jumped out and swung down. He did enjoy the sensation of pseudo-flying like this, but he'd enjoy it more if it wasn't something he had to concentrate on.

There was no time simply to let the feeling of the wind and the speed of his movement flow through him. Every moment was spent calculating: making sure he was keeping pendulum form, gauging when to release and potentially line up another shot, and sticking the landing without any grievous injuries.

Perhaps he could extend it for just a little bit, though. As he came around to the next platform, he allowed himself to keep going, and he flew back around through the interweaving pipes before letting go and flipping onto the structure. It appeared to be used for transporting cargo, as it was directly attached to some rails that led towards one of the big railroads. That was where he needed to go, so he got a running start and jumped on the rails.

 **Vector:** "Hey, that looks like a freight train!"

 **Ledge:** "I'm near one of the sets of tracks. Is it travelling along them?"

 **Amy:** "Yes, but it's carrying supplies. I don't think it's armed or anything."

Ledge processed this new information. _Hm, we didn't anticipate any more trains coming… It must be for the next shuttle or something. But I think I could use it to my advantage._

The rails ended at a loading platform, and he quickly jumped up to the top. Indeed, there was a large train headed down the tracks, and it was going to pass by quickly.

_Okay… NOW!_

He leaped onto the train as it flew by but found himself sliding on the icy surface. He only barely managed to grip the corner of the cart he was on and pulled himself up. There wasn't a moment to rest, though, as a low overhang was approaching and he would become tenderized turkey in very short order if he didn't move.

Survival instincts took over. Almost automatically, he identified a decent looking grapple point on another set of rails and shot up. As soon as he cleared the rail, he spotted a smaller tram on the tracks, heading straight towards him. He fired the hook to somewhere again and swung out from in front of it. The hook retracted without him realizing it, and he found himself beginning to freefall.

Through the blowing snow, he could identify what looked like solid ground in the distance, but it was very far. He would have to time his grappling hook just right for it to be in range. It felt like an eternity lining up the shot, even though it wasn't more than a brief moment. His aim struck true, and he successfully pulled himself to safety.

With his feet on terra firma, he had to resist the wave of exhaustion that came over him. No time to waste, he repeated mentally. If he remembered correctly, he was close to the computer room, and he began searching for a door to get inside. He found one pretty quickly – an iron door with a handle. It was bizarre that a mostly autonomous facility would have it, but he wasn't one to look a gift horse in the mouth. The handle turned, but the door wouldn't open. Ledge wasn't a door expert, but that's usually not how they work.

"Oh, I know. It must be frozen shut," he thought aloud. "Good thing I have a high-power defroster on hand."

Using quick puffs of the flamethrower, he steamed the edges of the door before trying to open it again. It worked like a charm, and he got inside.

The interior was a short hallway that branched from a much wider hallway, one with proper lighting and carpeting. The end of the hall opened into a room with lots of small lights that were unmistakably servers. Unfortunately, there were about ten Egg Pawns on patrol in the middle of them. They hadn't noticed him enter, and they were going around a corner soon. It would be easy to sneak past them.

 **Amy:** "All quiet at the launch pad for now. Grab a shuttle before they sound the alert!"

Twenty optic lights began shining directly at Ledge.

 _Well they're gonna sound the alert now._ Before the robots had a chance to fire, they were turned into fire as the red bird rushed past them into the computer room. His keen yellow eyes surveyed the room and spotted a couple monitors scattered about. He almost sprinted to the nearest one, if not for the other delicate machinery in the room.

The keyboard and interface were not only usable, but actually somewhat dated. Now that he thought about it more, six months was a really short time on a developmental scale. To be able to build the enormous Death Egg **and** a fully operational base to service it in that time would've been harrowing indeed, even with the Red Mask being able to conjure seemingly anything it pleased. It was reasonable that Eggman may have recycled some old designs.

Fingers typing like lightning, the engineer inquired for any key words that may lead to records of the technology currently sitting in his lap. Obviously, terms like "energy weapon" or "fire generator" would turn up nothing specific because Eggman had a lot of those. What he was looking for was a… a reactor. A miniature renewable energy reactor.

Bingo. Seven files and a folder full of research. He downloaded the directory onto a flash drive he had loaned himself from Tails. There would be time to peck apart the information later.

 **Vector:** "Perfect! They won't mind if we borrow this one for a while."

Ledge was about to rush out of the room, but something else on the desk caught his eye. It was a red capsule with an image of fire on it. When he was rebuilding the weapon, he had found a slot that he couldn't figure out what it did. It wasn't used in the mechanism that fueled the flamethrower, and his best guess was that it was an exhaust port. But this capsule looked like it would slot right in.

Exiting the way he entered, Ledge quickly took off on a long walkway that went straight to the cargo storage area. The original plan was for him to follow the train lines through here to the loading bay for the shuttles. He could see the train from earlier had stationed there now, and a variety of cranes and other service and guard robots were in the unloading process.

Suddenly, a metallic crab as large as he was jumped down from above and nearly crushed him with its pincers. He stumbled backwards and, in a panic, pressed whatever closest button he could find on his weapon.

Instead of its usual stream of flames, the red cover opened up super wide and unleashed an explosion. The crab itself then exploded, flinging two missiles out of its pincers that hit and severely damaged some of the other cargo. Ledge himself was recoiled back a few feet in the air, landing on his butt.

 **Ledge:** "I regret to inform you all that we won't need to worry about setting off the alarm anymore."

 **Knuckles:** "Rookie! Get outta there as soon as possible! Everyone else is aboard. Step on it!"

Large amounts of enemies were starting to congregate on all sides of him. Fighting them all would be worthless, not to mention he would miss the shuttle if he did. He had to think of something, and fast.

_That explosion… it had a lot of push to it. Can I clear a path for myself? Or maybe… yes, that might be crazy enough to work! It's firebird time!_

Pointing the weapon at the ground, he jumped and fired it. As he expected, the explosion propelled him a significant distance into the air. Putting his skills to the test, he kept firing, timing the triggers to keep him moving higher and farther away from where he was. Like a firestorm, he erratically travelled across the cargo area towards the launch zones.

And then, a hundred feet in the air, the weapon wouldn't fire anymore. Now tumbling out of control, he struggled to orient himself. There was blurred metal all around him at some distance, so he couldn't tell which direction the sky was, and more importantly which one was the ground.

 _What did Espio- no, Charmy. Charmy told me how to manage vertigo._ He couldn't think rationally enough to remember what the solution was, though. Too many muddled stimuli were consuming his brainpower. He could only remember what he had felt. _Just a moment to enjoy the sensation…_

Ledge closed his eyes. He allowed the feeling of the wind and the speed of his movement to flow through him. He was flying. Flying through the power of technology, just as the Babylonians have been doing for centuries. Sure, it was, uh, not how they intended it in the slightest, but if they lived, he could, too. It would be an embarrassment not to.

Opening his eyes, the suited avian got ahold of his sense. He righted himself in the air. There was less than half the distance now between him and becoming cold turkey, but he could see a plan. He shot the grappling hook at service pipe overhead, and it caught. He swung down, curling up to avoid losing his feet to the pavement, and landed in a run towards the shuttle that was waiting for him.


	5. Stage 4: Prison Hall – Death Egg

No sooner had Ledge practically dived into the shuttle did the doors close, the vehicle accelerating rapidly. Still dazed from the ride over, he couldn't find purchase to hold on to and was lurched backwards. The movement quickly stopped, though, and he found himself surrounded in a cyan glow as Silver caught him with his psychic powers. The pale hedgehog was securely fastened in a seat, alongside Amy and the Chaotix.

"Woah. What is this?"

"You've never seen my psychokinesis before? Huh. Well, this is what it looks like!"

* * *

Once the shuttle reached cruising velocity, everyone unbuckled and had gathered around to start chatting when a very stern-looking Knuckles opened the door to the cockpit.

"Rookie, what were you thinking?! You could've gotten yourself killed!"

"Hey now, don't be so harsh on him!" Amy criticized. "It was his first mission, and he made it here without any crippling injuries and didn't delay the mission. I think he did a pretty good job."

"Yeah, and did you see how he was jumping all over the place? It was so cool!" Charmy added.

"… just try to be more careful next time," the echidna said, turning back to the cockpit and closing the door again behind him.

"Don't worry too much about him," Amy suggested. "He's always been hot-headed."

"I don't suppose he would take kindly to me addressing my grievance about being called a rookie, then," Ledge responded.

"I mean, you **are** a rookie," Vector defended. "Regardless of your intelligence or skill, you lack experience, and that can make a big difference. Especially against Eggman and his hair-brained schemes."

"I know it's tough, but that's the nature of training," Espio continued. "We were all there at some point. Wouldn't you agree, Charmy?"

The bee sighed. "Yeah, I know, I know, I'm still young. But you don't keep me around for nothing!"

* * *

Later, after Knuckles cooled down, he decided to hang with the others while Tails continued to monitor everything up front. Opening the door once more, he saw Amy and the Chaotix playing a card game.

"Cards? Where'd you get those?"

"A ninja never reveals his secrets," Espio answered without hesitation. He didn't even look up.

The others snickered at the comment but tried to focus on their game. Knuckles looked around and noticed Ledge sitting in a chair in the back, staring out the window. He walked over to the recruit and smiled when he realized what the bird was looking at.

"First time in space, I take it?"

Ledge was startled by the voice behind him, but he kept his gaze out of the window instead of addressing the brighter red being.

"I'm sorry for yelling at you earlier. I hope you understand that it's out of concern for you. None of us wants to lose the only refreshing face we've seen in a while."

"That's a very odd compliment, but I will accept it. And yes… our world is beautiful from all the way up here. It's really bittersweet that I wound up seeing it under these circumstances. You almost can't tell that on the surface, everyone is struggling."

"Guys, guys!" Tails called, thrusting open the door to the cockpit. "Rouge is contacting us!"

That caught everyone's attention, and Tails motioned for them to come up front with him. They all crowded in front of the console to listen in.

"Everyone! Can you hear me?" the bat asked.

"Rouge! It's about time," Knuckles answered. "How's Sonic doing?"

"He's been better. They're getting ready to banish him into space."

"What? You can't be serious!" Silver exclaimed.

"Eggman's been keeping Sonic alive all this time for a reason," Rouge continued. "He's waiting to show him his completed empire before disposing of him for good."

"And torturing Sonic just to pass the time…" Knuckles realized. "That's low, even for Eggman."

"The Doctor got wind of our rescue plan and is moving forward with this ahead of schedule. The clock is ticking."

"But we don't even know where on the Death Egg he's being held captive," Amy brought up.

"Then we're going to have to divide and conquer once more," Knuckles declared. "It should be the same as how we got here, but without a map this time. You all know what to do. Let's go get Sonic."

"I know you're as excited as we are to see Sonic again, but it can't be that simple," Espio objected. "Rouge, are there other prisoners aboard? Do you know how many?"

"A lot. Who knows how many prison sectors there are on a space station of this size?"

The commander thought for a few moments. "I hate to say this, but Sonic is our top priority. We'll try to rescue as many people as we can, but if it comes to it, we _have_ to save him, no matter the price."

"Oh, man, you're joking, right?" Vector exclaimed. "That's not good at all!"

"None of this is good, Vector. That's why it's called war. And unfortunately, the objective of war is not to save everyone, it's to win. We can't win without Sonic."

Silver clenched his fists. "But–"

"No buts. I'm sorry if you disagree, but being the commander means making the hard decisions. All of us present are the only ones that stand a chance against Eggman. We can't afford any rogue heroism that may jeopardize any of our lives."

Ledge noticed a very brief glance in his direction from the echidna as he said that, but he couldn't tell if that was in reference to the second sentence or the third.

"So what's my next step?" Rouge asked.

"Try to find a way to disable the locks. We'll focus on searching the prison wards for Sonic. Vector, I want you to hold down the shuttle area for our return. Everyone ready?"

There was a collective, if somewhat hesitant, round of agreement.

* * *

Ledge quickly found out why it was called the Death Egg. He had thought the Spaceport had been well-guarded, but the space station it supplied had multiple times the number of robots, turrets, traps, and an assortment of every other deadly contraption you could think of.

The team managed to find a service elevator and split towards different sectors of the orbital base. Ledge had the idea to treat it like an actual ship – the engines were below, followed by the cargo hold, and passengers were on top. He was the last to get off the elevator, claiming the upper reaches as his quarry. So far, that decision was working out well for him, as everyone else got caught up dealing with enemies.

He ran down a large ramp in an open area leading to the floor below him. On top of its many threats, the Death Egg was simply _massive_ , and anything that led to new territory was worth traversing as opposed to attempting a comprehensive search of each area. This appeared to be a road of sorts, so he was cruising across and looking for any signs of a prison sector.

Instead, the only sight he saw when the road led into a tall corridor was a large squadron of Egg Pawns waiting for his arrival. The ones in the front held out their arm cannons like a firing squad and began to send energy bullets his way. Thinking quickly, Ledge shot his grappling hook up into the rafters and swung over them, using his free hand to torch the whole group with his weapon as he passed.

When he released, he flew out at a much higher velocity than he had been expecting. Soaring over the rest of the passage back into an open area, he nearly overshot the road, as it curved around to the left. Spotting a support beam near the center of the arced path, he grappled it and used it as a fulcrum to swerve around.

The road led back into the area he was in before, but right as he reached the apogee of his turn, something moving in the air caught the corner of his eye. There was no way he could make out what it was right now, but his instinct told him he needed to identify it. He kicked off the ground as he neared the end of his swing and landed on an elevated road running perpendicular to the one he was following.

The thing he had spotted was a large container travelling along a monorail. It looked like an oversized purple pet carrier, but he couldn't tell from here if there was anything inside because it wasn't lit. Some of Eggman's other robots were animal-themed, so it was possible that this was carrying a larger model of some sort. However, he thought it was more likely that it was being used for smaller, living cargo.

 **Ledge:** "I've sighted what appears to be a prisoner transport. Can anyone confirm its identity?"

 **Rouge:** "The prisoners are being held in a kind of internment facility, so… potentially. I'm still on the lookout for the main computer. Security's tight, so keep on your toes."

He looked back to see that the transport had gone ahead through a hole in the wall up above. _How foolish of me to stop and chat._ With a running jump, he vaulted back down onto the main road and gave chase. He found his pursuit cut off as the road ended and the only other way forward was a staircase spiraling downward. Only one way forward, then.

All the hallways blurred together as he focused on his target. There were a lot of elevators as he tried to ascend back up to where he thought the carrier had gone, only to be pushed back down by the maze of passageways. If he had known where in the Death Egg he was before, he certainly didn't now. There were robots in his way, but he hardly paid them any mind as he burned them to smolders.

That turned out to be a grave mistake, and the cardinal was sent reeling by a large, spiky object. He was offered only a brief glance at the top-like enemy and the spike ball that hit him before sliding off of an edge into some sort of pit. Almost out of instinct, he shot his grappling hook and it hit a target, and he allowed himself to dangle as he came back to his senses.

The hook had not attached to the walkway he had fallen from, or any other walkway, for that matter. Looking around, Ledge saw that he was hanging in the middle a pit that looked like what one would see in a nuclear reactor. It was circular, empty of any overhangs, and the bottom was too far down to see. Rings of red lights glowed eerily, as if glaring at him for his error. _No way am I going down there._

His abdomen was beginning to hurt. A lot. It was bad enough that he got smacked by a giant mace head, but he was hanging by one arm and the other was holding his weapon, which wasn't light. That meant no access to his communicator, either. What little strength his scrawny scientist self had was draining rapidly, and he didn't have a clue what to do to save himself.

One of the red lights was broken, and he fixated his sight on that to try and get himself to focus. When the light began to float towards him, he was pretty sure he was beginning to hallucinate. However, as it got closer, it took on a tangible form. It was the same color red as its surroundings, making it hard to tell what it was. Ledge could see its outline, which was scraggly near the top. It had three tentacles with similar flares. Flare was a good word for it, because it looked kind of like living fire.

That was all he was able to discern before the creature began to circle him. After a couple of rotations, it decided to settle itself in his weapon, and he could feel a motor or something hum to life within the device. It was a sensation he had felt before, when he had inserted that cartridge back at the Spaceport.

As energy flowed through his device, Ledge could feel an idea flowing through him. He began swinging on the line, although every movement hurt. With some effort, he was able to raise the weapon and pull the trigger. Like it had before, it released a small explosion instead of flames, which gave him a strong push back on his trajectory. He rotated his body as he was brought around and fired again on the other side when he had reached the apex. Like so, he turned himself into a rocket-powered pendulum, getting stronger with each pass as opposed to weaker.

Just as he reached a height where he could feel comfortable leaping off, whatever fuel that strange being was providing stopped, and weaker flames were all that his weapon procured. _Shoot, I don't have time to ready myself. I only get one chance!_

He was already on the downswing as he had that thought. Only a second later, he released the line and went into a rough roll onto solid ground. His body protesting, he stood with his flamethrower at the ready in case of any robots that had planned to strike. Thankfully, the robot that had hit him appeared to have left, probably assuming it had gotten the job done.

 **Charmy:** "Gosh darn, we're still trying to fight our way out! They've got us pinned down!"

The cardinal froze up a little at the sudden statement. A huge wave of anxiety washed over him, as if trying to take control. He had just had a near-death experience, everyone else was in danger of being obliterated forever, too, and there was nowhere to run and nowhere to hide because they were _in the stratosphere_. When he holed himself up in a basement to fix a flamethrower, he did not anticipate that this was how things would turn out.

Had he gotten in over his head? Let his pride in his skills get ahead of him and charged blindly into a battle with a scale much larger than he could possibly tackle? Why would he put his reputation on the line, so he could come out the one that tried to save the world and had to get saved himself? He almost laughed at the idea. It was a little bit of hope, he supposed. He couldn't give up and allow _that_ to happen, it just wouldn't do. He straightened his suit jacket and pants and forced himself to start running again.

 **Amy:** "I found a prison sector! It looks like this place was used up until recently."

 **Espio:** "Until recently? Does that mean our brethren are not being held there anymore? Where would Eggman have taken them?"

 **Silver:** "I bet he's carted them off to watch him toss Sonic into space! That's one more thing he'll answer for!"

 **Knuckles:** "Curses! Rouge, if you've found the control panel, unlock all the gates now! We need to distract them!"

 **Rouge:** "Calm down, boss, I'm on it. Get ready for high alert."

Alarms began to blare, bright lights flashing through the hallways and coating them red like the hollow he escaped from. Ledge turned a corner and encountered exactly what he had wanted to see: rows upon rows of freshly-opened prison cells. However, no Mobians were to be seen, meaning the cells had also already been emptied.

He kept moving, searching for any sign of where they had gone. Instead, he heard some loud engines, and two large robots that looked like oversized Egg Pawns flew overhead. They turned around, easily keeping pace despite now moving backwards, and bright light shone out of some emitters on one of the robot's shoulders. Ledge had only a moment to register what that was and leapt off the side of his walkway to avoid being eviscerated by a giant laser.

Remembering the training Tails had given him, he rolled as he landed and was able to keep most of his speed. However, the robots were still ahead of him, having dipped down. He was ready when the other one fired itself up, sidestepping the laser. The walkways went back and forward between cells and a central pathway, so it was very doable for him to dodge the onslaught by moving fluidly between them.

He saw a staircase leading back up to the top tier and vaulted it two or three steps at a time. Adrenaline was in full force – he couldn't feel the pain anymore. The laser squad continued to follow him, somehow keeping a fixed distance without even turning around. _I bet they're automated to do that,_ Ledge pondered, the corners of his beak turning up. _And if they're automated, I can exploit them._

As if to mock his idea, the sentries immediately turned around and flew away. Dumbfounded, he nearly stumbled over his own feet. Why would they turn their backs on an intruder? Unless there was a higher priority… _Sonic._ He must be nearby. The prison block looked like it ended up ahead, and there was no doubt that beyond that was where he needed to be.


	6. Stage 5: VS Zavok – Death Egg

The sounds of heavy machinery served as Sonic’s alarm clock as of late. When his brain heard that gate opening, it knew what time it was. Through merciless conditioning, the blue body jolted awake and curled up defensively, almost entirely out of the hedgehog’s willing. He wouldn’t have had the strength to do it himself, having only had time for small naps between sessions of agony. He had no idea how long he had been in this cycle, as the Doctor wasn’t kind enough to give him a room with a view. Once in a while, he would be dragged past a window, but all he ever saw were the stars.  
  
Pushing through soreness, the hedgehog sat up in the corner of the cold steel cell to see his regular visitor disable the energy bars that blocked his escape.  
  
At first, Sonic would try to blitz through at this opportunity, using his ability to Spin Dash to try and compensate for the glowing cuffs binding his arms and feet. But the entire prison’s automated defenses seemed calibrated for his movements, and time and time again he would be thwarted with his handicap. That was a long time ago, as the fitness to try had since been tortured out of him several times over. Now, he blearily sat there and awaited what came next.  
  
Before him stood a muscular red demon, Zavok. Adorned with black horns and spikes on his shoulders and wrists, the former leader of the Deadly Six struck fear into all of the other prisoners. Sonic knew what the Zeti was capable of, but that had ended in his seeming absolute defeat in a pool of lava.  
  
Today, that would do nothing to stop the hulking Zavok from scooping Sonic up by his legs and slinging him harshly onto his shoulder. He was rather brusque about it, as if in a rush to get somewhere.  
  
“Careful there, nanny,” Sonic spat, attempting to stick vitriol into his hoarse voice. “Wouldn’t want to stab yourself on my spines, would you? I know I _would_.”  
  
“Spines like yours would be nothing more than feathers to me,” Zavok countered.  
  
“I bet you think those _feathers_ on your shoulders make you look pretty, too, huh?”  
  
Zavok said nothing, allowing the noise of the gate closing behind them to fill the air. The Blue Blur knew that taunting his captor only made what came next even more gruesome, but it was going to be unavoidably excruciating either way. Verbal banter was his only way of venting his emotions and probably the only thing keeping him sane right now.  
  
Abruptly, Sonic was lifted off of the red shoulder before being tossed like a sack of potatoes out into the room. He curled up instinctively and rolled once he hit the ground, but then looked up and had to scramble some more to avoid a leaping Zavok. The impact of the Zeti’s landing had a rippling effect that launched Sonic tumbling into the air again, a fall he was less prepared to handle. He landed face-down on a metal tile, one that appeared to be hexagonal in shape. The platform seemed to be made entirely of these hexagons, and Sonic wondered if Eggman had a sense of irony for the location he and Zavok were last defeated.  
  
Struggling to his feet, he was finally able to see the room they were in. It was very large and cylindrical in shape, with a walkway corkscrewing around the outside. Above, the night sky sparkled through a domed skylight. The bottom of the room wasn’t visible from his vantage point in the center of the platform. The walls appeared to be made mostly of prison cells, and he could see humanoid shapes of various colors and sizes within them. Mobians, corralled here to watch the fight. _I’m going to need to kick the attitude up to 11 today. The others need to see that I’m still defiant… even if I’m not._  
  
“Oh, is this a surprise party? You shouldn’t have! Wanna let me go–” he gestured to his cuffs, “–and join in?”  
  
“You’ll have your fun soon enough. Dr. Eggman is on his way to show you what he’s accomplished in your absence.” To emphasize his point, his muscular red arms swept out, gesturing to the mass of imprisoned people in the room. “Then, it will be time for your public execution. This is the END, Sonic the Hed–”  
  
The power went out. The whole room went dark, the lights and all of the energy-based cell bars and restraints vanishing in an instant. Only the stars above were visible. They were quickly shone out by auxiliary lights that turned on. The room was dimmer than before, but the difference was made up by flashing red sirens. However, the damage had been done already.  
  
“The end, huh?” Sonic mocked, already stretching his sore legs. “Let’s see you try something now that I’m free.”  
  
Zavok merely shook his head. “Foolish hedgehog. Getting out of your chains does not make you free.”  
  
On his command, dozens of Buzzbombers flew up, each taking a cell hostage with its weaponized abdomen. Following them was a titanic version, its glowing compound eyes looking directly at Sonic. Without even looking, Zavok leapt up high and the robot moved forward to let him land on its back. He punched his fists together twice, then let out a guttural roar to show his dominance over the situation.  
  
“If you run away… they all **die**. Now, come and face the inevitable!”

* * *

“The only thing inevitable here is my foot kicking your butt!”  
  
The hedgehog meant that. After all, it wasn’t the first time they had gone head-to-head, and before, his opponent’s chosen partner was a metal dragon. According to Tails, Zavok was a dominator. He could control a singular being as if it were an extension of his own body. That meant the swarm of Buzzbombers was not under his direct command and would only operate on pre-programmed behavior. And if the workers are automated, they can be exploited. The big bee by itself was nothing.  
  
“We’ll see how long you last against this,” Zavok spoke from his perch. Several more Buzzbombers rose from beneath the platform and rushed the speedster. He threw himself at them with Homing Attacks, making quick work of their assault, if it could even be called that. This was clearly a test to see what kind of shape Sonic was in, or perhaps a sign that he was going to draw the fight out. Sonic knew he wasn’t in very good shape at all, and he was going to rely on adrenaline to carry him through. But for that, he needed action.  
  
Fortunately, his goading Zavok all this time taught him that the brute always fell for it. “Come out here and fight me yourself, and I’ll mop you up real quick!”  
  
“Impudent runt! I’m going to savor watching you suffer.”  
  
What the hedgehog had thought were the robot’s legs lit up, and he nearly tripped over himself dodging the yellow beams that shot out due to a delayed reaction on his part. Steadying his breathing, he forced himself into a constant pace as their rays converged to trace his path. With a smirk, he decided to be annoying and hide under the shadow of the robot itself, where it couldn’t get him.  
  
In hindsight, getting close to the giant stinger was probably a bad idea. Blame the sleep deprivation for that. Sonic leapt backwards as the robot slammed itself into the platform. Instead of finding purchase on the ground, he found himself being sent into the air as the hexes rippled once more. He cleared the height of the bee bot easily and saw Zavok scowling at him. He made sure to give his cockiest grin and shot him the finger guns before going in for a Homing Attack. The Zeti didn’t need to know that this wasn’t intentional.  
  
Zavok swatted him back easily, but the hedgehog didn’t relent, aiming for different areas on the demon’s body to try and slip through his guard. The second pass was repealed, but the third one smacked him in the side before Zavok shoved him away and flew his drone out of his reach.  
  
A motion from the master bee saw a selection of Buzzbombers divert themselves from their hostages around the edge and fly to surround their floating arena. _So he does have control of the little buzzkills,_ Sonic noted. The squad raised their abdomens simultaneously with the legs of the queen. He had to enter an acrobatics sequence to avoid the lasers and the individual shots, and it hurt his muscles quite a bit. The thrill of the fight was doing its work, but only barely. He wasn’t well-prepared for the swarm to then charge at him from all sides and got nicked a few times.  
  
Zavok had readied his thrall to finish the blitz with its own massive stinger, and Sonic had to duck and roll to get out of the way. The hex wave tossed him into the air like onions in a frying pan, but he was practiced enough that, with considerable effort, he was able to right himself and go in on Zavok again. They tangoed once more, and Sonic was once again victorious, hitting a potshot to the Zeti’s knee before getting literally kicked off his ride.  
  
The hedgehog landed flat on his back, and both sides took a moment to compose themselves. _I’m exhausted,_ Sonic mentally admitted, _but I can’t stop now. Zavok directing the regular Buzzbombers means he could potentially slaughter those prisoners if things go too poorly for him. Eggman wouldn’t approve, but it’s not like he hasn’t ignored Egghead’s orders before. Even if it was my fault back then._  
  
“You’re not making this easy, are you?” Zavok commented.  
  
“It sure looks like your defeat is easy from here!”  
  
“Crushing you is going to be all the more satisfying!”  
  
With a snap of his fingers, two layers of hexes around the edge of the arena detached themselves and fell into the abyss. The Buzzbombers under his command circled loosely around the platform. Individuals would sporadically stop and dash through, but it was no sweat compared to the previous attempt. Zavok himself went for an attack a couple of times, haphazardly destroying his own minions if they got in his way. The master robot didn’t even waver, perhaps a testament to its own strength.  
  
On the third pass, Sonic went for a tried and true tactic: he Homing Attacked one of the smaller robots and used the energy from its explosion to propel himself up. He just cleared the energized stinger and leapt at its driver with another spin.  
  
The Zeti was ready this time and went for a straight thrust as soon as Sonic’s attack came near. The spinning speedster had to twist awkwardly to land his feet on the giant fist and jump back to avoid being spiked. _He went easy to bait me into attacking_ , Sonic realized. The hedgehog let himself fall. He knew how he could get past Zavok’s defenses, but he needed a fresh approach.  
  
The Buzzbombers formed up into three V-shapes, circling around the platform along with their master. Sonic crouched, preparing to jump instead of attempting to follow all of their movements. Zavok wasn’t smart enough to try and confuse him; he was just being dramatic to try and be intimidating.  
  
The bees came at him in waves: he jumped over the left group, ducked to avoid being backstabbed, and then the big one came through, callously destroying the oncoming group as Sonic somersaulted out of the way. It almost felt too easy. Maybe Zavok’s queen bee wasn’t as in control as he thought.  
  
As the last group came in, Sonic went for some Homing Attacks to try and break it up. He only got a couple good shots before they dispersed, the legion forming a large circle around him. Zavok floated in from above, hovering menacingly over the hedgehog and allowing his drones to tighten their circle as a tribal threat.  
  
Funny thing about theatrics: Showing off what you’re about to do means your foe knows what you’re about to do. To a normal foe, the ring of stingers would be death. But the narrow window between them and the large spike above was an easy shot for the Blue Blur when the attack came. He landed on a hex right in time for it to bounce upward, trampolining him right back where he wanted to be, in Zavok’s face.  
  
This time, he allowed himself to stop just short of the demon’s strong arm as it swung out to knock him away. He landed squarely on the queen bee’s head and used the momentum to spring up straight through Zavok’s guard and sock him right in the jaw. He followed with a right hook and spun around to roundhouse kick him, knocking the behemoth off-balance. It was exhilarating, finally giving punishment after all the pain he had been forced through. Two more jabs, a sweep to the crook of the knee for good measure, and Sonic bull rushed straight and knocked Zavok back off his own robot.  
  
Without wasting a moment, he spun up and applied pressure like a buzzsaw to the space between the giant bee’s head and its neck until it was decapitated.  
  
“No! How could I lose to the likes of you again?!” the Zeti cried.  
  
Sonic swung back up onto the bee’s back, looking around for where Zavok was speaking from. He peered down and saw the brute desperately clinging to the abdomen of his destroyed ride, even as it began losing altitude.  
  
“You were right, that was a blast!” he called down. “Bring some chili dogs next time, though.”  
  
He leapt off the robot onto the safe perimeter as it fell into the abyss below. The sound of buzzing still filled the air, and he saw that the remaining Buzzbombers had reverted to their previous behavior – blindly chasing the intruder. Which was him. As they started converging on his position, he booked it down the corkscrew and fled through the bottom entrance.  
  
A swarm of bees fleeing the room was all a red bird saw when he surveyed the chamber he had just entered.


	7. Stage 6: Egg Gate – Death Egg

Even though the alarms were already going off, Sonic still found it surprising when the ceiling started to fall as he ran. That wasn’t one of the traps he had encountered thus far.  
  
“Guess they found out I escaped…” he said aloud to himself. “Oh well! It’s time to kiss this snooze-fest goodbye!”  
  
He could see an exit at the end of the hallway. The stars beyond it called to him, and he rushed to greet them. However, they were suddenly ripped from his sight as he tripped and fell into a small hole in the ground that opened up before him. A careless mistake, though he knew it was from exhaustion rather than recklessness. Everything was starting to blur, the sights and sounds and feelings merging into one giant stressor. _I’m so close… but so far, all the same._  
  
Some floating white spots caught his attention. He was half-certain that he was hallucinating, especially once they coalesced into figures he recognized. There were three of them, all with pale, spherical bodies concentric with singular eyes. Each one had two antennae and three tentacles.  
  
Sonic was still too dazed to formulate words, but the White Wisps didn’t need them (and it’s not like he had Tails’s translator to be able to speak with them anyway). They dove into his body, creating a warm feeling that almost glowed through his skin. Hallucination or not, the energy felt real, and that’s all he really cared about. He clambered up out of the hole he was in, the ceiling raising up from the floor, and broke out his Boost as he shot past it and out of the base.  
  
He jumped out onto a rail, then realized exactly where he was when a large, blue sphere emerged from behind the constructed background he had just departed. “Woah… we’re off-planet!” he exclaimed, his voice a muffle in the low atmosphere. “I guess anyone who crosses Eggman gets a one-way ticket to space. There’s no way I’m sticking around here!”  
  
A swarm of Buzzbombers, presumably the same ones from earlier, rushed past him to block his path as the rail curved around to the side of the space station. Their bolt brains never learned, and he just Homing Attacked across to a series of connected steel-gray platforms leading back inside. Without much of anywhere else to go to, he followed it, using his speed to climb up the sides of the platforms instead of jumping. He was serious about not dawdling.  
  
Back inside, more crusher ceilings tried to impound him in a series of tight hallways. This time, energy blasters joined the mix, shooting triads of blue spheres that he had to jump around while navigating a vertical chamber.  
  
Sonic couldn’t imagine that these are anything other than death traps designed specifically for him. Eggman knows he doesn’t do well in tight places. It was flattering, really. He would have to pay back the mad scientist for putting him in this jam later. _How_ am _I going to do that? Never really thought about what I would do after I got out of here…_  
  
He exited back out on another rail, this one curving a bit wider around the outside of the spherical satellite and meeting up with two others. In fact, it wasn’t any old station, as he could now plainly see from the oversized face and even more oversized nose and moustache looming over him. “So he had me locked up on the Death Egg, huh? This big ball of scrap just won’t stay destroyed.”  
  
The thought was dropped as more robots came out to stop him. These ones were blue and Egg Pawn-shaped, with a notable lack of legs that were made redundant by jetpacks on the bots’ backs. They were easily identifiable by the large shoulder-mounted mirror-like guns as Egg Chasers.  
  
Sonic liked Egg Chasers. They were predictable. Those lasers took a moment to charge, and it was plenty of time for him to get out of the way. Even as exhausted as he was, it was child’s play to hop back and forth between the rails and dodge the flashy rays of destruction. “I’ll be outta here in no time. Just wait and see, Egg- whoa!”  
  
In his moment of cockiness, all three Egg Chasers charged up and fired at once. The hedgehog reacted just in time, ungracefully chucking himself off of the rails into a freefall. He was quite thankful that another set was below him, though the Egg Chasers lived up to their names and quickly aligned at his head once again. Not wanting to take his chances again, Sonic jumped onto the leftmost rail and took its exit back into the Death Egg.  
  
Although the area was unusually dark, Sonic kept on running. He could barely make out the ledges he was hopping over and the corner that he just barely made the turn for, and when he saw light below him, he took a gamble and hopped the rail to go meet it.  
  
He landed in an odd, vertical chamber with a line of red casings going down the middle of it. Something about the setup seemed familiar to him somehow, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on what. He could only guess that it was some kind of red energy tank.  
  
Dismissing the idea, he started clambering down the shaft while thinking about his next move. It’s not like he could swim out into space. _I know! I’ll just grab a shuttle!_ he realized. _The one I came in on must be around here somewhere. I could do with a little space cruise on my way home._  
  
With a flip, he reached the floor at the bottom of the room. A small hallway led out of it, and Sonic had to stop himself from going full sprint because otherwise he would’ve gone straight through the door at the end into open space. His green eyes looked around for a place to go. There were some more rails below him, but he could also see the Egg Chasers circling the area above like hawks. There was little chance they wouldn’t spot him the moment he stepped out somewhere. But he didn’t really have any alternatives, so he took a deep breath and jumped out.  
  
Catching the rail was pretty easy, and just as he expected, he could soon hear the faint roars of engines through the limited atmosphere. The Egg Chasers lined up in three rows again, which was a major problem when this rail was by itself. Linked shoulder-to-shoulder in front of him, now accompanied by an identical set behind, they were primed to kill like a firing squad. A half-dozen in total.  
  
“…and eggs come in dozens, so this is clearly another half-baked scheme, haha!” he spun out loud. _I’m glad no one was around to hear that. Even I have to admit it was pretty bad. I guess Eggman’s finally improved his AI a little, though._  
  
Sonic was feeling pretty good right now, but he knew he couldn’t tank a laser to the face when the reality was that he was running on White Wisp fumes… if even that. Keeping an eye on the approaching guards, he looked around for an escape route. The Death Egg was nothing if not daunting, as any enormous, heavy-armed fortress in space ought to be. It didn’t faze the Blue Blur anymore due to that “getting destroyed repeatedly by him” part, but that didn’t make it easy to get around by any means. Something else caught his eye then, something that looked to have disembarked along with the Egg Chasers. He knew what his plan was going to be.  
  
At that moment, a squadron of orange spaceships flew past in a V formation, like they were jets. They looked like jets, too, with a central cockpit and wings with turbines on them. Tails would be proud of him for knowing that. _I’ll be home soon, little buddy._  
  
The speedster quickly jumped and Homing Attacked onto the back of one of them. Concentrating on his Boost energy, he channeled it into the spaceship, altering its momentum to make it start turning to the left. It was a technique he had learned by mistake back on Planet Wisp, when he got impatient on an elevator platform and wanted it to go faster. It actually did, much to his surprise, and he had since practiced the action a little to try and gain finer control.  
  
As if those large eyes were watching, the Death Egg responded immediately. The ships pulled a 270° by turning around and dropping straight down. Sonic had to leap and dig his fingers into a gap above the windshield to prevent himself from being flung into free-float. The surface of the gray sphere was above him now, and a multitude of automatic turrets came out and began visibly charging energy. Thinking quickly, he kicked to push himself off and targeted one of the wings of another craft for a Homing Attack. A cyan glow came from the spaceship he had just left as it got completely vaporized by the energy shots.  
  
“Man, they’re packing a lot of firepower. Still, it doesn’t matter if they can’t land their shots!” he thought aloud as he fastened his grip on the wing.  
  
The ships swung around in a large loop, and when they righted themselves, they were headed straight towards the Death Egg, which was being lit up around them like holiday lights from the turrets. Seeing the display almost took Sonic’s perception away from a rectangular recess in the Death Egg’s carapace. It had to be a hangar for spacecraft. He could find his shuttle there.  
  
“Here goes nothing!” he called out, mostly to boost his own confidence. Now that he was standing upright again, he was able to take a running start to jump between the squad members. It was like galactic hopscotch, except each time he stepped off a square, it was spectacularly blown up by its own home base.  
  
However, even his speed wasn’t able to match the correction of the turrets’ fire. Each jump was a narrower and narrower window, and he was quickly running out of ships to joyride on. _Too close to give up now! I’ve got to get it just right. Here we… Go!_  
  
The hedgehog jumped just as his platform was destroyed, and the momentum propelled him right towards his target. He failed around in midair a bit, but as the gravity normalized itself, he was able to turn himself upright and enter a dive into the bay.

* * *

Ledge forced himself to avert the gaze of the civilians in the shuttle behind him. The cardinal needed to keep up his suave appearance, for his own confidence as much as theirs. The truth was, he was scared to all heck and back, and he didn’t want to anyone to see the faltering look in his eyes.  
  
Knuckles’ order of Sonic-at-all-costs didn’t last very long once they pulled red alert. Rouge was able to confirm that Sonic somehow escaped of his own initiative after the gates were opened, which was totally in-character for him. But that meant he needed to arrive at the shuttle bay of his own initiative, too, because they had no way of knowing where he was. In the meantime, they had gathered all of the prisoners they could and safely escorted them to the bay themselves. And they couldn’t just leave everyone here, so most of them loaded into shuttles and escaped while they could. Things really hadn’t gone well for the rest of the gang, so Ledge volunteered to stay behind with some brave volunteers and defend one last ship until their hero arrived.  
  
No robots had launched an attack on them, though. Sonic was probably Eggman’s highest priority just as he was the Resistance’s. That good luck was not to last, however. Out of nowhere, a green figure dropped from the ceiling on a metal line and swung right into Ledge’s chest. Winded, he fell back onto the ground, only barely keeping his grip on his flamethrower.  
  
Looking up at his assailant, he saw a canine-like figure. It was hard to identify much about it, because it was wearing a gray helmet over its entire head, revealing only two very angry green eyes. Olive-green light body armor gave it protection over a black bodysuit, with gloves and boots of a similar color. However, the most important part of its gear was the large, lime-green gun that it was pointing at his chest. The barrel seemed to be a sphere, with three antenna-like things coming out of the bottom like tripod legs. The agent was holding the sphere by a large handle with a trigger.  
  
“Your Wispon or your life,” it demanded bluntly. The voice was muffled by the helmet and didn’t sound particularly high or low. Ledge’s guess from it and the general body shape of his attacker was that it was a woman. But he also had other thoughts on his mind.  
  
 _Wispon? Is that what this is called? How does she know that? That… couldn’t possibly be one in her hand, could it? Is she working for Eggman? Did he actually keep a copy of his prototypes?_  
  
“Five seconds before you become space debris,” she snarled.  
  
“W-well, but, you haven’t even seen the demo yet!” he tried to retort, bringing up the Wispon and letting loose a stream of fire to compensate for his admittedly not-so-spicy words.  
  
The canine didn’t even flinch, and Ledge’s smirk was almost literally blown off of his face as a powerful gust of wind was shot out of her own weapon. His flames dissipated instantly as they were cut off from their oxygen source, and the red firearm was knocked out of his hand due to the force and surprise of the blast.  
  
Before she could finish her job, the enemy Mobian became alert at something and quickly sidestepped to avoid a blue blur that just about ran her over. The red bird sat there in shock as Sonic the Hedgehog stood between his green foe and himself. Without further hesitation, the spiny hero spun up into an airborne ball and slammed right into her, simultaneously performing an upward kick that disarmed her as she flew back.  
  
Although she landed hard, she quickly rolled backwards and onto her feet again, swooping up her Wispon shortly afterward. However, she didn’t attack, clearly in thought and probably weighing her options.  
  
“… you got lucky this time, bird-brain. But the Alpha will be back.” She shot her hook up to the ceiling and quickly disappeared without a trace into the vast mechanical structures of the Death Egg.  
  
After a moment, Sonic spun around and offered his hand out to Ledge. “Easy there! Everything’s cool.”  
  
“I-I… thank you, Mr. the Hedgehog,” the bird responded, accepting the offer, the two jointly hauling him to his feet. Ledge could feel himself putting in most of the work, though, and he didn’t need two guesses as to why.  
  
Sonic merely chuckled, before flashing his signature one-sided grin and thumbs up. “No need for formalities, just call me Sonic! Besides, you’re the one here to rescue me! I can’t tell you how much I appreciate that. It’s been a while since I’ve seen a friendly face.”  
  
Behind them, the volunteers on the ship began cheering loudly, and both Mobians realized they ought to get going. Ledge grabbed his Wispon and ushered Sonic onto the shuttle, quickly making sure no one else was around before entering. He announced that they would be taking helm in the cockpit and please not to disturb them, before closing the door and starting the launch sequence Tails taught him.  
  
After he and Sonic had gotten seated, the inventor was about to initiate a call to the others when one of them beat him to it. The voice on the other end was quickly identified as Knuckles.  
  
“Hey, rookie, you still in one piece?”  
  
“Don’t you want to know how _Sonic_ is?”  
  
“ **SONIC!** ” another voice cut in over him. “I’M SO GLAD!”  
  
“Hold up, Amy. We’re all happy Sonic is alive! But he won’t be for long unless he gets off that egg in a hurry.”  
  
Ledge looked over at the blue hedgehog who was supposed to be his co-pilot. The key word was supposed to, because he was out cold in his seat. Now that the bird had time to get a closer look, he could see the full extent of the damage Eggman had dealt to the world’s savior. His body was brusied and cut all over, disfigured splotches of black and blue (a sicklier shade than normal, that is) here and there, and while Ledge figured he was probably pretty lean, right now his figure was downright emaciated.  
  
They could worry about that once they were on solid ground again, though.  
  
“No need for concern, Commander Knuckles,” Ledge replied. “Our hero is resting easy.”


	8. Stage 7: Arsenal Pyramid – Wild Zones

For once, the Resistance Base was almost completely silent. Their main room of operations was an endless supply of work, conflicts, and hardship that created a constant tension within its walls. Not even the night shifts on guard duty, after most of them had left to try and get some sleep, were exempt from stress. Now, finally, they had made a major accomplishment in their fight for the world, one which took every ounce of their strength. No one had reason or energy to worry right now, finally creating a sense of solidarity as everyone enjoyed their victory.  
  
Of course, that did not mean that the Resistance was able to rest. Eggman was almost certainly going to double down on his own efforts to quash them now that they had stolen an ace from under his nose. As such, a particular fiery-red avian could be found doing some research on the HQ's main screen in the dead of night.

* * *

**Eggman Industries**  
**Project 1107  
Codename:** **Prism**

**File:** Color Power Generator

Premise  
  
A device capable of mimicking the capabilities of the Wisp species to draw Color Energy from their surroundings and concentrate it. Color Energy is more stable than Chaos Energy, as the name may imply, and thus is more suitable for spontaneous generation. A repeat of the issues surrounding my grandfather's Project Shadow is not desirable.

* * *

Ledge was interrupted from his reading by the sound of the Base's automatic door opening behind him. He gritted his beak – he didn't want the others knowing about his data escapade quite yet, and the current night watch wasn't supposed to return from their shift for another couple of hours.  
  
"Who's up at this late hour?" the visitor inquired in a soft whisper. Amy's voice now was quite the contrast to her impassioned exclamations following the rescue of what the bird had since realized was a strong, unrequited love interest. "Oh, it's just you, Ledge. Something on your mind?"  
  
"Nothing in particular. Just recreationally watching some late-night Egg-o-vision," he replied, trying to keep his voice casual and sarcastic. He quickly powered down the screen and turned his full attention to the woman at his back.  
  
The pink hedgehog had switched her attire from her usual frilly red dress to a maroon one that fit her more snugly. She wore plum-colored mitt _ens and socks, as well as a pair of violet slippers. Each of the slippers had a face on them with two plush horns with dark stripes that curved back with a sharp angle. Must be a reference to some popular culture icon I never paid attention to._  
  
"Very funny. Really, there's no need to be shy. No one sets foot on the Death Egg and walks out unscathed."  
  
"I was serious about the first part of that. I was really working on my inventions is all. Nothing you would have any interest in. How's Sonic?"  
  
Amy sighed deeply. "Poor baby has to readjust to sleeping in a **bed**. He'll have nightmares for months, I bet. I just came here to get more bandages and some water for when he wakes up again."  
  
She shuffled around to gather those items while Ledge watched silently. He had observed during his time that she was something of the core of the team despite not being the Commander. She de-escalated many of the disagreements that broke out, particularly those against him, and kept the computer he was currently using very organized with their resources and plans. She was also quite skilled with her hammer (not to mention being able to hide it nigh-undetectably on her person), but that seemed secondary to her role than helping everyone else out. He admired that.  
  
It wasn't long before the door closed behind her and Ledge was left to his devices. Truth be told, there _was_ something else on Ledge's mind: that green wolf. The Alpha, as she referred to herself. An enigma in his understanding of the state of this mission. How did she know about his Wispon? Does that mean Eggman knows about it? Why would he want it now when it was taken four months ago?  
  
It was even more reason to commit his full faculties into researching the Wispons and producing as many of them as he can. _And for that, I'll need a factory…_

* * *

Crouched on the roof, a figure watched towers of wooden crates made their way down a street in the City. One tower stood above the rest at around double the height, and beneath it sprouted green legs with black boots. The smaller stacks walked on legs of various colors, and an oversized bee flew around the group.  
  
"Aw, yeah! We're gonna have a party with all this food!" the bee exclaimed.  
  
"Easy for you to say when you're not carrying any of it!" the large tower responded, a snout sticking out from behind the side to identify the carrier as a crocodile.  
  
"You're just jealous that I'm so good at finding it!" Charmy retorted, roosting on top of the tower of boxes to peer down at his friend and guardian.  
  
"Hey, watch it, you'll knock it–whoa!"  
  
The top two boxes on the stack tipped off. Charmy was able to catch the one he had been perched on, but the other fell towards the ground.  
  
Without wasting an instant, the figure sprung into action. It leapt off of the building, rolling perfectly with its feline build as it hit the ground. Using the momentum, it cleared the distance to the group in seconds and entered a slide.  
  
Vector could only watch in terror as the box of provisions was about to spill everywhere, until it got swept away by a black-and-yellow blur. Gently but quickly, he and the others set down their loads to address what just happened.  
  
Breathing heavily on the ground was a black cat with yellow stripes. Or, at least it looked to be, due to the large crate covering most of its body. It could theoretically be a yellow cat with black stripes, and as a detective, Vector wasn't going to assume anything. The face was mostly black, though, with the exception of a yellow cross on its forehead and a yellow bandana covering its mouth that evened out the color scheme.  
  
"… 'sup," the cat wheezed out, unable to remove the crate that was pinning it to the ground.  
  
"Now that's what I call ace reflexes!" Vector remarked as he easily lifted the worn brown box and set it aside.  
  
He extended a hand, and when the cat accepted, he noticed that it was wearing a gold, stylized snake bracelet. The other hand had a more standard bracelet, also gold, and its feet were covered by sneakers with a gold-and-black color scheme. Now that the crate was out of the way, he could also see that it wore a big black belt with a gold buckle.  
  
"And some serious bling, to boot! You're making me look like a chump!"  
  
The cat laughed, a voice just above the middle of the spectrum, which he knew to be a contralto. This surprised Vector, as the cat didn't look much like a girl. But then again, people had never been his strong suit, and he couldn't deny that his view of gender was somewhat dated compared to today's kids. _Speaking of kids…_  
  
His reptilian eyes saw Charmy trying to fly away and hide. The croc pointed dramatically at him and said, "Where do you think _you're_ going, you little troublemaker?"  
  
"Woah, hey, chill out," the cat interjected. "It was an accident, no one got hurt. Cut the kid some slack."  
  
The perpetrator floated back over to the conversation. "I agree with the cool new guy! Err, girl. But also… I'm sorry for that. I should've known better."  
  
"Apology accepted." Vector smiled a toothy grin, then turned his attention to the new face. "Hey, you got a name, kid?"  
  
"Yeah, my name's Arc. Arc the Lynx."  
  
"It's a pleasure to meet you! You know, we could really use someone with your skills in the Resistance. Whaddaya say?"  
  
"Been thinking about asking you guys that myself. Eggman needs a taste of his own medicine after taking all of us prisoner aboard that space station. I want to help take him down any way I can."  
  
"Well, in that case…" Vector held up his fist, and Arc mirrored with hers. With a fist bump, they sealed the deal. "Welcome to the team, rookie!"

* * *

A couple of days later, Ledge requested a group meeting in the Resistance HQ. The two red bodies of himself and Knuckles stood in front of the large monitor, an image of a metal pyramid surrounded by sand on the screen behind them. Everyone else was listening from various locations around the room. Even Sonic was standing up and walking about.  
  
The echidna cleared his throat. "Alright, gang, we've had a few days to get the refugees from the Death Egg settled in. It's surprising that Eggman hasn't launched a full-on assault on us yet, but we don't intend to look that gift horse in the mouth. I'll admit, I never really planned for what would happen if we got this far. Sonic, finding you alive is the best news we've had since this war began."  
  
He paused for a brief moment, which everyone in the room took as an opportunity for a round of applause. Sonic himself looked a little sheepish for once at all the attention he was getting.  
  
"But not to worry, because _I'm_ here," Ledge continued. "If we want to build up a force that can fight Eggman's army, we'll need a lot of firepower with which to do so. I have made a breakthrough in the development of weapons like mine, which I now know are called Wispons, that should allow me to mass-produce them."  
  
"Our intel indicates Eggman's got a weapons factory in Sand Ocean, pumping out munitions for his war effort," Knuckles explained. "If we take that, we can reverse engineer it for our own use. Sonic, I know you just got back, but we're spread thin as it is with supplying our refugees and skirmishing around City limits. Can you take care of this?"  
  
The hedgehog gave an easy smile. "Eggman's recycling his old base for parts, eh? Well, I've got six months of payback I'm just dying to spend. This sounds like a good start!"  
  
"You sure about this?" Vector questioned, his mouth a frown instead. "Sonic, you've been shaking like a leaf the whole time since we got back from the Death Egg. No offense, but I don't want your mouth to write a check your body can't cash yet."  
  
The croc received a pointed look from Sonic, who made slight gestures towards the female hedgehog that was looking at him with great concern. It was clear he wanted to get away from her after being doted upon for several days now.  
  
"Take the rookie with you then, to be safe," Knuckles amended.  
  
"I'm… afraid I can't do that, Commander," Ledge refused, his gaze lacking the confidence it had a few moments before.  
  
"Ledge, wait… what?" Tails said, confused.  
  
"I am retiring from the adventuring business, effective immediately."  
  
"But why?" Charmy asked. "You saved our tails back there!"  
  
"I did, but it was a situation I do not wish to repeat," he answered, his free hand moving almost subconsciously to his waist where he had been injured. "Near-death experiences are far out of my comfort zone, I'm afraid. I think I am better equipped to provide logistics and coordination, much as Amy Rose and our dear Commander do."  
  
"The Commander does also get field experience," Knuckles argued. "I really don't think it's smart to send Sonic in there alone right now."  
  
"I know. Of course, I wouldn't be making this declaration if I hadn't prepared for contingencies. Arc, if you will?"  
  
The black-and-yellow cat appeared from an inconspicuous location off to the side and walked up to the front, in between the two presenters. In her hand was a black square-looking device with a yellow handle as one of the sides. A large lightning bolt design was extruded on both faces across the diagonal and extended beyond the square into a clamp.  
  
"I present to you the Lightning Wispon, the second of Eggman's prototypes," Ledge gestured. Arc waved and opened her mouth to say something, but the well-dressed avian didn't give her the chance. "Arc here has volunteered to test it out on this next mission. Is that to your liking, Commander?"  
  
Knuckles didn't look extremely pleased, but he relinquished nonetheless. "I suppose so. Sonic, you take the lead. Rookie… just make sure you take good notes."

* * *

A flash of blue, yellow, and black approached a large, beige pyramid under the bright, midday sun. The terrain around them was a mix of faded red pillars and modern metallic structures with the same beige color scheme as the pyramid. It all rested on a mostly flat expanse of sand for miles around.  
  
**Knuckles:** "Sonic, it looks like your return has inspired more people to volunteer! I can send reinforcements if you don't think you can handle it."  
  
The blue of the duo shook his head, although the echidna on the other end wouldn't be able to see it. Running free under the sun and blue sky was a sensation Sonic had sorely missed. All of his worries about the fate of the world, his friends, and of that cold hard torture were but dust in the wind. He was home now, and nothing could take away this moment from him.  
  
**Sonic:** "No need! The two of us are more than enough. We'll blitz the place and open up a path for the Resistance!"  
  
He turned to the cat holding onto him. "Right, partner?"  
  
Arc's expression was hidden under her bandanna, but her eyes betrayed a look of excitement but also of weariness. He had seen that look on pretty much everyone the first time he dragged them along for a run. It was the look of someone who has never gone so fast in their life, leaving them exhilarated yet exhausted because they haven't grown their running legs yet.  
  
"Hah… I think you're doing most of the work here…" she exhaled as she focused on keeping up.  
  
"Hey, you're doing pretty well! Tails tripped five minutes in when we first met."  
  
"Is that so… Wait, up ahead!"  
  
The hedgehog's green eyes looked to see a squadron of Egg Pawns ahead. "Well, sorry, no time for a break quite yet. We're kicking it into high gear!"  
  
He switched Arc's left hand into his own, secured her behind him by grabbing her right with his, and they shot away with a sonic boom. Arc's world turned into a blur of yellow, red, blue, and robot parts as they rocketed through the squad. It was over quickly, and as the two ascended a large brown pillar that had toppled backwards onto the sand, Sonic guided the lynx back around to his right side.  
  
"Looks like you're up!" he commented.  
  
They leapt off the edge of the pillar together, over a ravine of sand created between the ancient structure behind them and the modern one in front. The pathway visible in front of them was littered with Egg Pawns, although the shade did look tempting. Arc's mind quickly registered what shade meant, and she looked up to see another walkway above. Two pipes connected to each other above it with a red sphere-looking thing, which had a narrow center that was just begging to be hooked into. She pressed a button on the Lightning Wispon and swung it forward. A long chain flew out of the device and wrapped around the divet, holding taut as it reeled her and Sonic to it.  
  
Once they cleared the floor of the roof, a lone robot became visible in front of them. This one was much more humanoid, with a separate, somewhat flat head with green eyes above its round, silver body. Its limbs were longer, with back-folding legs and two small cannons in place of its forearms.  
  
The robot was also more observant than a regular Egg Pawn, as it noticed them as soon as they appeared and began charging both of its cannons. Arc felt Sonic's hand tense in hers, and she realized she needed to be the one to take action. She pressed the button again to slacken the chain and immediately pointed the Wispon at the robot, letting the chain roll out to wrap around its neck.  
  
With another press, the chain retracted, pulling the robot and feline towards each other in their equal and opposite reactions. While the weapon was built to withstand this particular force, the robot's head was ripped off of its body, which fell uselessly to the ground. Both Mobians stuck their landing.  
  
"That was wicked cool!" Arc exclaimed, pulling down her protective cloth to reveal a large grin on her face. "I don't know how I pulled that off."  
  
Sonic gave her a thumbs up. "You'll get the hang of it. Glad to see you've figured out how fun it is! Ready to keep moving?"  
  
"You bet."  
  
The roof they were on curved in an S-shape, and its surface was plastered was golden, unfilled circles laying in neatly arranged rows.  
  
"Rings? What are they doing here?" Sonic asked. It seemed to be a rhetorical question, because he immediately went about touching as many of them as possible, causing them to disappear in a sparkle. This was a completely ordinary sight for her, because Rings were the standard currency of Mobians worldwide. No one understood how they worked or where they came from, but no one was going to question having an infinite, weightless wallet that only worked for them. She went about picking them up, too.  
  
Once they had cleaned the rooftop, they continued speeding on their way. They cleared a gap onto a raised alcove that covered a pipe leading out towards the pyramid over another pit. With another flick of her chain, she and Sonic latched on to a pole somewhere and skidded across the curved surface of the pipe. It met with a road leading straight towards the pyramid, so they hopped off. However, the sight before them made them wish they had scouted their path more thoroughly.  
  
Robots by the dozens stood in formation on the road, in between them and their destination. Sonic wouldn't be too concerned if they were just Egg Pawns and those Gamma knock-offs, but he could see further down several ranks of a larger, sleeker model of robot, their left arms morphed into shields. He would never forget how painful those were to fight all the way back on the Egg Fleet, and that was individually.  
  
"I think it's time for the two of us to team up," he proposed, looking at his supposed student once more with a sly grin. She eagerly made eye contact, a glint of wild excitement shining from within.  
  
That second exchange confirmed an inkling that Sonic had. There was something else to the look in Arc's eyes that was much more special than a first-time Speed of Sound Service. It was the look of someone who wanted more. The look that said, "This is what I've been searching for in my life!" It was rare for someone to have that adventurous spirit, even among his friends. He had only seen that look once before: in the face of Miles Prower.  
  
And that link, that undertaking, birthed an incredible dynamic. It didn't take any training or explanation for Tails to know what to do, from extracting him from dangers like the start of that first standoff with the Red Mask, to performing powerful moves like the Rolling Combo. The Blue Blur could feel that connection here with Arc, and the glow that started to form around them proved him right.  
  
"It doesn't matter what obstacles they put in our way. We'll blow past everything they throw at us! Double BOOST!"  
  
They high-fived, the aura flaring to life, and they blasted forward. Any robot that touched them was eviscerated by the energy they were producing. Even the E-2000s failed to slow them down, so much so that Sonic didn't even recognize when they ran through them.  
  
"Yeah, that's how it's done! We've got unstoppable speed and timing! We just have to keep this up."  
  
The road ended at the base of the pyramid, but they simply didn't care and kept running up the side of the pyramid, all the way to the top.  
  
The excitement petered out once they hit the apex, revealing a large hole in the flat top of the pyramid. The first time Sonic and his friends had raided this pyramid, it was used to launch a rocket into space. From the empty cylinder leading into the heart of the pyramid, it didn't look like it had been repurposed or reconstructed since then. That's exactly what Sonic was hoping for.  
  
**Sonic:** "Bingo! Found a way in!"  
  
**Amy:** "Perfect! I don't think you'll have radio reception while you're in there. Stay alert!"  
  
**Sonic:** "Heh. This should be fun!"  
  
Sonic loved skydiving. He straightened his body and went straight into a nosedive. However, an alarm triggered the moment he passed through the aperture, causing walls of lasers to appear throughout the shaft.  
  
"Sonic, what do I do?!" Arc called. Sonic glanced up to see the lynx quickly covering the distance to a laser wall, limbs flailing all the way.  
  
_Oh, yeah, not everyone is a natural at this…_  
  
It was easy enough for him to change his posture back and spread his limbs to slow his descent. He leaned to adjust himself closer to her as they fell and carefully flipped himself over to look at her directly.  
  
"Stay calm!" he shouted over the sounds of machinery around them. "Don't worry about the lasers! Those Rings we collected earlier will protect you!"  
  
Arc didn't look particularly comforted, and she braced for impact with the lasers. As he had foretold, though, she wasn't hurt by them at all. Instead, the Rings scattered in all directions with a distinct clanging sound he had heard all too many times.  
  
Sonic sighed. He looked over his shoulder to see what other obstacles had been placed on this vertical course, and nearly lost his own composure when he saw a second laser wall in front of the first. Again, Arc was headed for a head-on collision, but she had no protection this time.  
  
"Arc, spread your limbs wide, like me! Do it now!"  
  
The feline did as she was told, but without the proper form, her arms and legs uselessly dangled behind her instead of increasing her drag. Sonic squinted away as she made impact, fearing the worst. But he didn't hear or smell signs of a fried cat. That distinct sound came again, and he peeked out to see a singular Ring fall from her possession.  
  
"Are you okay?" he asked.  
  
"I-I think! Except for the part where we're still falling from the sky!"  
  
_Do all cats hate heights? Or just the ones I know?_ Sonic questioned. He flipped himself to focus on the other lasers that were popping up from the wall. Arc had fallen enough that they were almost level, and the hedgehog guided himself over so he could grab onto her. They were clear from the next wall, so he had time to find a comfortable position to be able to pull her.  
  
"Okay. My mistake there, leaving you behind. But I'm here now, so please calm down."  
  
Arc took a steadying breath. She closed her eyes and allowed her limbs to catch the wind as much as possible. The force against her was awkward, but manageable.  
  
"See, now you got it! Now follow me. I don't want to freak you out again, but there are more lasers, and they're moving now."  
  
She opened her golden eyes and saw that the laser walls were indeed spinning around the circular chasm. But she was in the groove now, she wasn't scared. Going with the flow was what she did. She allowed Sonic to navigate them through the air, and he did so with skill. They spiraled beautifully and landed on the ground on their own two sets of feet.  
  
As soon as they did, though, she let go and started pacing a little bit.  
  
"What's up?"  
  
"Oh, just… shaking myself out a little bit. Not every day you have a near-death experience, y'know?"  
  
Sonic refrained from commenting that that was basically his last six months in a nutshell. In fact, he really didn't want that thought to come back up at all. "You wanna know one of my mottos?" he asked tersely. "If you have time to worry, then run. Eggman already knows we're here, let's not give him a chance to set up a trap or something." He started jogging deeper into the facility without really paying attention to whether Arc had followed him or not.  
  
The lynx frowned and started after him. His mood had changed quite a bit since their mission started, and it was not at all like the jolly, groovy speedster that had become revered in everyone's memories. It was a red flag for anyone experienced on city streets, but she couldn't just give up faith in the heroic hedgehog like that.  
  
She passed through a square archway, curiously noting the letters "E-01" on the wall over the frame. What lay on the other side felt like an entrance to another world. In stark contrast to the stainless steel launch pad, she stepped onto an ancient stone balcony, painted in faded red and green patterns. A fairly large chasm lay before Sonic and her, filled with enormous gears many times their size that looked a lot newer than the aged infrastructure holding them up. The interlocking network made any of the other walls impossible to see.  
  
Her blue companion looked back at her and raised his eyebrows; any trace of his previous attitude was gone. "So they're building weapons here, huh? Looks like the fun's just beginning. How about you lead the way from here? I bet that chain of yours will be real useful."  
  
A pensive smile crept across her face. Although the gears looked much more dangerous than the fall, they at least made floors and walls to cling to and had overhanging supports for her chain. It would be a fun challenge indeed.  
  
"You got it, dude."  
  
Together, they leapt onto a flat gear before them. Taking only a brief moment to orient herself to its rotation, she immediately made a running jump onto a vertical gear connecting to its side. Practically crawling up its side, she grabbed one of the square teeth, itself fully capable of holding her weight, and pulled herself up. She looked back to see Sonic following one step behind her, and her grin widened.  
  
Their gear rotated in parallel with another ahead, creating a metal sandpit that would eat them if they stood in inaction. She crouched down in her little alcove, and when the angle was right, she leapt across. But she didn't stop there, lest she get pulled back. She made a single bound across the exterior face of another tooth and leapt to the next one, repeating it until she was at a point where the gear was pushing her upwards.  
  
Behind her, Sonic appeared to be struggling to mimic her movements, and he had to perform one of his midair dashes to meet her. While it probably should've been at least slightly concerning, she instead reveled in it, her grin now reaching from ear to ear. Without hesitation, she took his hand and hefted her chain to a bar protruding from one of the support beams. Sonic barely had time to register what she was doing and properly anchor himself to her before she jumped off.  
  
"Tsk tsk, Sonic, you're going to have to be faster than that," she mocked.  
  
" _You're_ calling _me_ slow? Ha! Did you forget how hard you were trying to keep up with me before?" he shot back. His tone of voice conveyed that he was both surprised and amused by this.  
  
They landed on a flat gear across the way, which was connected with a series of others like stepping stones. A heavy rumbling above them caused them to hesitate. Pretty quickly, a large, flying cart of some kind stopped overhead. A bunch of robots just like the one she initially destroyed outside dutifully disembarked on all sides, falling in a rough circle around the two of them.  
  
"World's fastest hedgehog is a pretty big title," Arc responded. She flicked a switch on the handle of her weapon and heard the crackling of it charging. "It's not just about your miles per hour, you gotta be fast at everything!"  
  
Using both hands, she swung her chain loose, a glowing yellow line bursting with energy. It cleaved through any robots it met with a satisfying crack. She turned herself in tune with the gear to maximize her the degree of her arc; Sonic had to jump rope to avoid becoming prickly in another way than his spines.  
  
"For example, you were too slow to beat these robots," she added as her chain cooled and retracted. As she turned her body to look at the Blue Blur directly, she noticed a robot that she had missed, its glowing gun barrels pointed straight at her. "Oh crap!"  
  
The robot fired before the words finished leaving her lips, but it was toppled a split-second later. Sonic was already there, kicking out the robot's midsection using his hand as a fulcrum. Turning back towards Arc, he easily outran the bullets and tackled Arc out of their path.  
  
And then, in one fluid motion, he did a handspring to land on his feet, crossed his left leg over his other one as he turned to face her, and started wagging his index finger at her. The dumbfounded look on her face was hilarious. This was _the_ classic Sonic pose, after all. She had been thoroughly and completely _owned_.  
  
"Now, what were you saying? I couldn't hear you over the sounds of me saving your butt."  
  
Arc said nothing as she got onto her feet, re-orienting herself with the motion of their platform, and started walking. Sonic laughed out loud for a solid ten seconds before focusing on the goal ahead of them. This place looked so different than when he was here last; a lot of the original pathways seemed to have been cleared to make room for these gears. At least those hourglass doors seemed to be gone, too.  
  
The gears led up to another platform. The edge of this one was crumbled, but Sonic could recollect that this was supposed to be one of the pyramid's long, winding pathways. Only a winding trail of Rings between the machinery above provided evidence of its former existence.  
  
"Those gears aren't safe to climb," Arc stated, still not looking towards Sonic. "Is this a dead end?"  
  
"Nah. I've found many uses for Rings across the years." Sonic gave her a smug look, happy that she wasn't paying attention. He rushed forward, grabbing her hand again and ignoring her obviously flinch at the touch, and took off at light speed across the path of rings. In a fraction of a second, they were traveling up under a pair of gears facing them and through a large loop-de-loop through the air before the path of rings led them to the left.  
  
Another gear platform met them on the other end, connected to a couple other vertical and horizontal ones. However, when they landed on it, those gears pulled back, and another cart filled with E-1000s dropped down. This time, they doubled up, a ring surrounding them on the ground and another in the air supported by jetpacks.  
  
Arc took a moment to come to her senses before powering up her Wispon. She began chewing through the ground troops with cracks of lightning. Over the commotion, she shouted to Sonic. "Man, you already got me back. Was that really necessary?"  
  
"Sorry, but no one insults my speed," the hedgehog replied, leaping up and beginning to pick apart the flyers with Homing Attacks. "Mess with the best, fall like the rest! But yeah, I'm done."  
  
The enemies were quickly dispatched, and the surrounding gears shifted back into place.  
  
"Cool. Now what was that you did?"  
  
"That was a Light Dash. It's an odd experience to describe. It's kinda like that Boosting we did earlier, where I just will myself to move forward and it happens. But Boosting power comes from within. A Light Dash is like… channeling yourself _through_ the rings, if that makes any sense."  
  
"Kinda like electricity?"  
  
"Yeah, exactly! It took me a long time to take off the training wheels on that one."  
  
They clambered up the gears onto another long, ancient platform. In the distance, they could see a similar alcove attached to one of the walls of the giant room. Three stone shacks were placed evenly along the platform, and a variety of cables, axles, and antennae were hooked up to each one of them.  
  
"My guess is Eggman has them here to conduct power," Arc commented.  
  
"Who knows? Rings like to show up in unexpected places. Anyway, we must be close to the control center. But how to get over there…"  
  
Before they could come up with any plans, another rumbling sound distracted them. They looked around for the source, but couldn't find any until robots started falling from the sky.  
  
"Up there!" Arc called, pointing at a large square hatch in the ceiling. Dozens of robots were spilling out and positioning themselves in between the heroic duo and their goal. There were two models, both of which had gray bodies shaped like lumps and two arms attached to their bottom sides. One was bluer with a visor-like eye and spear-like arms. The other was purple-ish with a circular eye, and its arms were both as large as the main body and had several claw-like spikes that were pulsating with a green energy.  
  
"Shoot, I forgot this place had those hatches!" Sonic bemoaned. "These types of enemies didn't used to be here. But I recognize those ones with the hands. They want to capture us!"  
  
"Well, there's no way I'm going back to that space prison! Ledge made me a big gun just for a moment like this!"  
  
"Those things aren't going to go down to your chain-whip thing! They're just as fast as it."  
  
"That's not my plan," she said, taking out a capsule. Inside was a pale yellow creature shaped like a lightning bolt, with three angular tentacles keeping it afloat. She slotted the cylinder perfectly into the hole in the Wispon's reel. "Now come on!"  
  
Once again, she grabbed his hand and sprinted forward without giving him a chance to ready himself. She flicked her switch and felt all of her fur stand on end as the air became charged with electricity. She leapt off their platform to meet the robots, and as soon as one got within several meters of her, bolts of lightning flew out of the Wispon and surged into it. The arc jumped to the next robot, and the next, snaking its way along the entire horde and destroying each one moments after contact.  
  
The Arc jumped through them as well. The Wisp inside her weapon seemed to be responding to her desires, and its power pulled her and Sonic through the chain of robots just like the chain of Rings. Within seconds, they had cleared the whole group and the gap. The electricity, thirsting for more, attached itself to a nearby power cable, causing the Wispon to clamp down like a zipline as gravity pulled their twosome towards the generators in the center.  
  
Arc screamed. She screamed as loud as she could. Not in fear, or in pain, but in excitement. Back in the streets of Empire City, she had taken up parkour because she wanted the thrills of such activities like roof-hopping and climbing buildings dozens of stories high. This moment, right here, blew all of that a mile out of the water.  
  
They landed on top of the center of the flat rooves with a stunning lack of grace. They tumbled unceremoniously from the cable onto the stone, and Arc definitely heard some pops and cracks. She ended face-up, arms spread out, and she could feel the electricity inside her literally and metaphorically draining itself. She allowed herself to lie there, eyes closed, for an unknown amount of time.  
  
"Alright, I have to hand it to you, Arc," Sonic finally said. She opened her eyes as he stood over her with a goofy look and an extended hand. "You may not as fast or sharp-witted as me, but you are definitely **way** more daring and foolish."  
  
He pulled her into a sitting position, and she couldn't help but laugh. She laughed as loud as she could, too. Sonic couldn't help but laugh with her, until she went hoarse and couldn't laugh any more.  
  
Coughing, she finally pulled herself onto her feet and they went to complete their mission.


	9. Stage 8: Luminous Forest – Mystic Jungle

After a long hallway and some particular comments about hourglass doors, Sonic and Arc finally saw the light of the sun from the open ceiling where the hedgehog remembered an obnoxious key being hidden. To their luck, the dead-end had been converted into a monitoring station for the power generators. A quick test showed that they had finally received service again.  
  
 **Sonic:** "That was a cake walk!"  
  
 **Amy:** "Oh, you found it! I don't know why I was even worried."  
  
Another voice suddenly joined their conversation, though static indicated that he was in need of better reception too.  
  
 **Silver:** "Guys, it's _him_!"  
  
 **Sonic:** "Yes, it's me! You surprised?"  
  
 **Silver:** "What? That's not- No! I meant the other him, the Red Mask!"  
  
 **Sonic:** "What?! How?! Where?! When?!"  
  
 **Amy:** "Eggman launched an attack inside the Mystic Jungle shortly after you arrived at that base. We sent Silver and some others to stop it. It didn't seem like much, but there's clearly more to this than we know. Just hurry!"  
  
 **Sonic:** "I'll head over as soon as Ledge arrives. I want a second round with this guy."  
  
He felt a nudge from his partner. "What about me?"  
  
"No. I need to do this myself."  
  
"But–"  
  
He cut her off with a stern look. The Blue Blur rarely got serious, but the Red Mask was a monster that used any means necessary to win, and the one who condemned him to six months of pointless torture without a hint of remorse. He couldn't risk even one of his friends being subjected to that fate. And, well, losing like that made it very personal for him.

* * *

Sonic looked down on the Mystic Jungle from the cruising altitude of the shuttle. He hadn't visited this tropical archipelago since he travelled to the town of Adabat when Eggman tore apart the planet (the second time, that is), in a way more literal than the chaos he's created now. It shouldn't be surprising why: Islands meant water. Adabat was built on the water, and inland was still plentiful with rivers and waterfalls from all the rain they got. Sonic _hated_ water. He could drink it just fine, thank you very much, but in anything larger than a puddle, he sank like Eggman's dreams, and then he had to deal with the fear of becoming stuck on top of the fear of _not being able to breathe_. That was probably why the Red Mask had picked this particular locale as its battlefield of choice.  
  
The shuttle had made the trip all the way across the world in record time – only a couple of hours. That meant it was night time in the area, which was a huge step up from the dry heat of the desert and the probable humid heat if it were day. He much preferred the cold, because he could just run to stay warm. It was also nice because the last time he was here at night, he was transforming into a slow, hulking, very furry beast.  
  
Already, he could see wildfires blazing in several locations across the forest. A whole fleet of Eggman's ships were floating above the treetops. The least he could say was that staying warm wasn't going to be a concern.  
  
 **Sonic:** "Alright, guys, I'm closing in. What on earth is happening here?"  
  
 **Knuckles:** "Eggman's forces are scattering bombs like confetti!"  
  
 **Tails:** "We can't go on like this!"  
  
 **Sonic:** "The whole place is going up in flames… Not the kind of fireworks I like. I don't have time to wait!"  
  
He hit the release on the shuttle door and winced as an ashy wave of heat washed into the cabin. He needed to stop this as soon as possible.  
  
 **Amy:** "Sonic, what are you doing? You're not thinking of jum–"  
  
Her voice was cut off by raging winds as Sonic jumped out of the airborne shuttle. He went straight into a nosedive, curling up into a Spin Attack as he approached the tree line to saw through any branches in his way. Tightening his form to increase his rotational speed, he shot off the moment he hit the ground in a Drop Dash before returning to running form.  
  
 **Sonic:** "Mission control, the hedgehog has landed."  
  
 **Amy:** "Sonic…!"  
  
The obvious frustration in her voice gave him a chuckle. It's not like this was the first time he'd jumped out of an aircraft.  
  
He sprinted along a cliffside lit by some old torches. Below, one of the fires raged uncontrollably. It didn't take long before he encountered some Badniks, and admittedly not a model he had seen before. They were shaped like purple ostriches, except instead of their useless wings, they had two missile launchers. They had their attention focused on the fire, so when they noticed his approach, they turned and ran instead of fighting.  
  
It was surprising how fast they ran. Not as fast as he did, of course, especially not once he activated his Boost and plowed through them. But he imagined that Silver would have had a hard time with them if he found any, even though he could deflect their missiles. Speaking of which, Silver hadn't spoken at all since his initial warning. The Red Mask seemed to cause radio interference with its powers, so he could only hope that the other hedgehog was doing okay against it. Two hours was a long time.  
  
Eventually, the path turned inward from the cliff and met with a bunch of ruins. They weren't just any old ruins, though; they were distinctly identified by many glowing strips of rock covered in runes, glyphs, symbols, and the like. There were pillars, signs, ledges, and even a few artificial trees illuminated in the night. It was a lot prettier before, without the fireworks show Eggman was putting on.  
  
Ahead, he could see even more ground forces. From the looks of it, a lot of them were Motobugs, redesigned in that same slick gray that many of the other Badniks were in. Not wishing to waste any time, he sought any opportunities to climb higher in the ruins. He couldn't fly like Tails or glide like Knuckles, but with enough speed he could skip across a lot of gaps. He jumped up ledges and ran up any safe-looking walls he could find. Some Egg Pawns and Buzzbombers were scouring around up there, paying him no attention as he ran over most of them.  
  
 **Sonic:** "For such a big raid, these robots don't seem to be putting up much of a fight. What gives?"  
  
 **Tails:** "That's not what the front line is reporting. Maybe they're trying to defend the Red Mask?"  
  
 **Knuckles:** "Like that freak needs defending! Silver… what's going on over there?!"  
  
Sonic was forced to slow down when he reached an insurmountable gap in the mansion-like structures. They were connected by some rotating platforms, and a few careful and vaulting jumps should have let him clear them without much difficulty. However, something caught his eye as he approached the ledge, forcing him into a hard slide into a crevice in the roofing. A large bomb sailed just over the gap, and he heard it explode behind him. Climbing out of the hole, he peered to find the source of the projectile. Despite the light from the ruins, nothing appeared to him in the night. At least, not until another bomb flew at him. Sidestepping it, he traced the path back to one of the stone trees. He could barely make out a silhouette of a monkey clinging to its side. With this realization, he could now see that all of the nearby trees had Kikis on them, throwing bombs to add to the destruction.  
  
The stupid monkeys at least made for good targets for his Homing Attacks so he could bypass the rotating platforms. Speed was of the essence; waiting for a rock to move around in a circle wasn't on his to-do list.  
  
Landing back on the ground, a set of stairs led him up to what looked like a big entryway to something. It was huge, decorated in the glowing stones, and had a circular hole in the middle. It ran through the middle of a small hill, and the pathway beyond kept the curved structure of it, barring a collapsed section indicated by roadblocks.  
  
There was a change in the behavior of Eggman's troops, too. The Egg Pawns had carefully lined up along the road, using more roadblocks and thorn-covered fences to make barricades. Sonic found that this ramp-thing curved back and forth, so he curled up and drifted along with it to knock everything out of his way. The road ended with another collapsed section, with the probable culprit right above it: a fleet of balloon-shaped enemies dropping bombs indiscriminately at regular intervals. There wasn't time to deal with them, so he chained a few Homing Attacks to get over the gap and continued on his way.  
  
He became less sure about that decision once he saw a set of tents not too far up the road. The camp was marked as friendly by a single flag sticking out of the ground, carrying the Resistance logo that had apparently been made during his captivity. It was a pale golden five-point star on a dark red background, but the upper left point on the star was instead another star. Now, Sonic wasn't an artsy fellow, so he didn't know any of that symbolism stuff Amy probably made them put into it, but it sure looked cool.  
  
A soldier flagged down the speedster as he approached. He made sure to hide his grumpiness at being asked to slow down at this particular moment, because that would be bad for morale. The soldier was fairly generic, wearing standard navy gloves, boots, a helmet, and gray body armor. Probably the only interesting thing was that he or she was a Mobian. It looked like _everyone_ here was Mobian. Were they all volunteers from the City?  
  
"Sonic, thank goodness you're here! We can't hold any longer!"  
  
"You've done plenty!" the hedgehog replied with a quick pat to the other Mobian's back. "Great job."  
  
 **Tails:** "Sonic, I've located the Red Mask. They're in the ruins up ahead."  
  
 **Sonic:** "Great, Tails! I'll make sure everyone's efforts weren't in vain."  
  
As he started ahead, he let out a loud whistle. The other soldiers looked back and stepped out of the way as he came through, cheering him on as he went. It felt good being appreciated like this again, and it boosted his determination to take down the Red Mask no matter what.  
  
That road took him through another curved pathway, but soon the blockade became too thick for him to speed through. He scanned his surroundings and noticed a cave in a hill nearby, that looked reachable. With a quick turn, he Boosted sideways to make an impromptu ramp out of the curve of the road, sending him up right up to the cave. He emerged on the other side, having cleared Eggman's forces, and rushed forward to a clearing.  
  
 **Tails:** "Unidentified life-form on the radar!"  
  
The earth began shaking, causing Sonic to skid to a stop. From the ground, a _massive_ black serpent emerged. Even with just its head and a little neck showing, it was already reaching the treetops. It announced its presence with a guttural hiss that vibrated his skull, baring its fangs that were larger than he was.  
  
 **Tails:** "Is that something from the jungle?!"  
  
The snake continued to bring its body aboveground, quickly filling most of the clearing without showing much sign of stopping. As it leered down at him, the blue mammal Homing Attacked its cranium and began to run down its back, which formed a tight loop at one point.  
  
 **Sonic:** "I guess all the explosions riled it up. Doesn't look like we'll get past without a figh- ah!"  
  
With a flick of the snake's body, he was popped up into the air and promptly got eaten by the snake.  
  
"You're so gonna regret that! Hedgehogs don't make good snacks!"  
  
Curling into a ball, he played passageway-pinball on the snake's intestinal tracks, bouncing around until he could feel its gag reflex push him back up. He tumbled out of the snake's mouth, hurdling through the air but landing on his feet. He looked back to see that the serpent had collapsed unconscious on the ground.  
  
 **Tails:** "The enemy readings are closing in on you, Sonic!"  
  
Sonic ran up a glowing ledge, and he could see the ruins up ahead being cast not only in yellow light, but red and cyan as well.  
  
 **Sonic:** "All right. Time to beat down this troublesome foe!"


	10. Stage 9: VS Infinite – Mystic Jungle

What Sonic witnessed next was not only a light show, but an all-our war with one-man armies on either side. In the cyan corner was Silver the Hedgehog, flying around and encasing the largest objects he could find in the same glow as he psychically lifted them. He flung chunks of ruin and fallen trees across no-man's land, only to be destroyed prematurely by high-yield explosives and impossibly large weapons conjured by the Red Mask.  
  
"I had more important things on my agenda than crushing some has-been hero," the Red Mask taunted, "but I'm happy to oblige. It keeps the rabble in line… Shows them that there is no hope."  
  
The psychic tossed a spherical statue at the thing to shut it up, and it instead collided with a large cannonball and ricocheted like a billiards ball off into the jungle somewhere.  
  
"Does anyone but you believe your lies?" Silver spat.  
  
The Red Mask's crimson glow intensified, and five curved red swords appeared in a fan in front of him before soaring towards Silver. The gray hedgehog caught the first one with his mind, dodged the second one, and used the sword to parry the third before getting in a blade lock with the fourth one. He had to forfeit his position as the second and third swords came back around, engaging in a desperate 3-on-1 battle.  
  
It was a battle that he quickly lost, as the Red Mask itself grabbed the fifth sword and thrust it forward, smacking Silver back into a wall. He fell to the ground, and the one-eyed monster brought all five swords in a cone above the defeated hedgehog.  
  
"Seeing is believing."  
  
As the swords came in to impale their victim, Sonic rushed in and grabbed Silver out of the way. He set his gray counterpart down and stood between him and the Red Mask.  
  
"It's time to tag out, Silver! I've got it from here!"  
  
Now that it wasn't overwhelming its surroundings with that irritating red light, Sonic could finally see the features of the enemy that had defeated him six months ago. It was a male, foxlike creature with dark fur. He wore only some gray-ish gloves, shoes, and, of course, his namesake, a full-face mask that glowed red from beneath. The mask even covered his ears, with striped divets presumably filtering sound through them. Silver strands of fur hung down from the back of the mask and came up from his tail. Most creepily, one of the eye sockets was covered, leaving a single yellow eye gazing down upon him.  
  
"Well, look who's back from the dead," he spoke. "The little blue savior."  
  
Sonic tensed up. He knew he shouldn't let that heartless creep get the better of him with words, but seeing his face… seeing how he beat one of the only people who could match himself in a fight… it made him mad.  
  
The Red Mask crossed one arm over his chest-gem and put the other up to his mask. "But what's that I smell? You reek of fear. Exactly the impression you should have after your effortless defeat."  
  
"Fear? You must be imagining things. You definitely haven't left an impression. I don't know anything about you, not even your name."  
  
"My name? Ahahahahahaha…"  
  
The world went red from the gem on the Red Mask's chest, absorbing the swords in its light. The two hedgehogs were lifted from the ground, just as Sonic and Tails had back when they first encountered this monster.  
  
"Woah. Woah, woah, woah woah!" Sonic exclaimed, trying to keep the memories at bay.  
  
"Sonic, look out!" Silver called.  
  
The Blue Blur was shifted sideways by the other's psychokinesis, just as a black train came barreling through. On second glance, it wasn't a train, but the snake from earlier. Its gargantuan body weaved through the air, eventually settling into a double-loop, laid horizontally, with the Red Mask on its head in the center. An infinity sign.  
  
"You shall call me Infinite, in the brief moments that remain to you."  
  
The gravity effect died out, dropping him back to the ground. But something nagged at Sonic's memory. The way Infinite was perched on the head of a giant serpent under his control… he knew where he had seen that before.  
  
"See, _Infinite_ , now we're getting to know each other. You were in control of Zavok the whole time, weren't you? So, what's the source of your power?"  
  
Infinite bared the gem that held the power in question. "The source of my power is none of your concern."  
  
"Sorry, but I insist. I'll just have to make you tell me by force!"  
  
Sonic sprinted forward and jumped onto the snake's head. Infinite merely floated backwards, easily keeping pace as the hedgehog kept running towards him.  
  
"Still thrashing about, I see, you filthy little sewer rat."  
  
"You know, you should see what happened to the last magic freak that called me a rat. How about I shove you in his lamp, so you can see what infinite punishment _really_ looks like!"  
  
The air seemed to _warp_ towards Infinite as a glitchy red aura burst to life around him. Bands of similar pixel-y things formed around the snake's body, and Infinite travelled to the underside of its belly. Sonic wasn't sure what he was attempting with this, as it was a trivial matter for him to jump over the effect and meet him around the back.  
  
Infinite kept watching him, not showing a hint of emotion from behind that mask.  
  
The bands shifted suddenly, skewing their shape into a spiral that wrapped around their reptilian battlefield. Sonic was starting to feel sick from looking at it, and he lost his concentration and blundered into the inscrutable mass. It felt as if the static had gone directly into his brain, causing streaks and blips to dance across his vision. Where the red bands had been before were now spikes protruding from the snake, like a series of collars.  
  
 _What the heck is this power? What happened to all the easily-dodgable weaponry?_ he managed to think in all of the chaos. He soldiered on, jumping over the spikes and keeping moving. After a few seconds, the feeling started to fade away, and the spikes went with it.  
  
Infinite emerged from the redness, his posture showing he was now reveling in the battle. "Well, you may have more fight in you than those other vermin. Let's see how many _seconds_ you last."  
  
The hedgehog was tired of hearing this guy's crap. That freak wasn't even taking this fight seriously. Guess that meant it was time for his secret weapon.  
  
 _"Test something for me," Ledge said as he got off the shuttle. He showed him a small capsule with a few pale blue creatures inside._  
  
It seems the White Wisps he encountered on the Death Egg weren't hallucinations after all, but he still didn't understand how they got there or how Ledge of all people had managed to capture some of his own to give to him.  
  
He opened the capsule behind his back and let the Wisps' energy flow through him. Infinite created more of the red static in the form of stripes going along the length of the snake, and Sonic was ready for it. He activated his Boost, but instead of the signature blue blur, it was much paler, around the same color as the White Wisps, with a slight rainbow blur around the edge. He vaulted over several of the lines at once before jumping up into Infinite himself. It was a direct hit, knocking the beast through the air and causing him to lose his concentration on maintaining the magic lines.  
  
"Ngh… you little…"  
  
"What's the matter, Infinite? Haven't seen a hedgehog before? I'm just showing you my **spines**!"  
  
"Spines on one's back are for those who lack a spine _in it_. Let's have a demonstration, shall we?"  
  
Energy burst out from Infinite's chest gem. They had reached the tail of the snake, and gravity lessened once more as the tail flicked Sonic up in the air. Infinite's form became shrouded in crimson, then separated into seven different clones that circled around the hedgehog. They began generating a ring of power, which started to give Sonic vertigo, but he could feel his Color Power working to combat the effect. He could also see the Infinites getting affected by it. Only one of them wasn't starting to flicker and glitch out, and he knew that was the one he was hunting for. A Homing Attack disrupted the flow and let him fall back down onto the snake's head.  
  
Infinite growled and let loose another burst of crimson. This time, long rectangles formed around the snake, intersecting its sides on their long edges to create gates at various rotations. Sonic weaved back and forward between them, and it felt like a slalom course. It really felt like he was still being tested, like Infinite _still_ wasn't actually trying. Talk about a big ego.  
  
He went for another Homing Attack, and Infinite attempted to coat himself in more of his pixel-y stuff to block it. The attack went through, to both of their surprises, but the Blue Blur recovered quicker and was able to land a second shot before Infinite dissipated himself and reformed farther back.  
  
The masked head shook. "I see you've improved since the last time. But compared to infinity, anything else is zero. A 10% improvement of nothing… is still nothing."  
  
"You've been talking to Eggman too much. It's that kind of logic that always leads to his failure, and soon to be yours."  
  
"I will teach you to hold that tongue."  
  
His foe distanced himself and created more rectangles. He wondered if this was really the best Infinite could do, but that possibility was quickly proven incorrect when the rectangles started spinning. At first, they were simple rotations, but as he got through more of them, they would stop abruptly or reverse directions to try and fake him out. And then one sped up as he was passing underneath it and he was consumed by that terrible prickling across his body again.  
  
Just as before, the red static had been replaced by spikes, but in the form of spike balls rolling across the snake just as the rectangles had. He did his best not to repeat his blunder and made it through without the spike balls performing any feints on him.  
  
Infinite was waiting for him when the visions faded, conjuring up more static on either side. Sonic reacted quickly, activating his White Boost to get ahead and ram into the summoner. He was starting to look real pissed, and another burst of energy sent Sonic back into the air.  
  
He was greeted up there by way more than a few Infinites. Almost twenty, by the looks of it. They were lined up in rows in front of him, charging energy, like a maniacal firing squad. Knowing he was protected from their personal bubbles of the stuff, he began chewing through them with Homing Attacks in search of the real one. Each one would get replaced moments after destruction, and they seemed to be presenting themselves to him to take apart.  
  
It occurred to him that this was probably being set up deliberately by Infinite, and that he needed to change tactics. Instead of blindly attacking, he targeted the weakest points in the cluster to get past them. One Infinite in particular kept shifting away from him, so he sought the quickest path to it.  
  
When he had the Infinite cornered, he focused his remaining energy into one final Homing Attack that sent it reeling backwards, causing all of the other clones to vanish and them both to fall back to the snake.  
  
Infinite clutched his head. "Impossible! Your abilities exceed your previous data!"  
  
"Unlike your stupid mechs, I can grow! I get more powerful every second! And now, it's payback time at last!"  
  
Sonic rushed forward to deliver a final blow, but Infinite produced another red aura. Immediately, it felt like he was trying to run through gelatin, and then the snake started gliding in the other direction and winding itself away from his foe. It formed into a shifting spherical rotation around the increasingly intense red glow, and the effects combined to completely throw off any sense of direction.  
  
That was the moment when Infinite struck, physically bashing the hedgehog with his steel mask and they burst out of the now planetoid-like reptile. Instead of getting pulled back in, Sonic fell back to Earth; he was soon followed by the serpent as the effects on it faded and it crashed down to the ground.  
  
"As I predicted," Infinite boasted, now hovering over him. "How careless of you to assume I could actually run out of power. You're not even worth the effort to finish off." He didn't waste a moment in flying off.  
  
"Sonic, you OK?" Silver called, floating over the serpent and landing by his side.  
  
He picked himself up off the ground with a groan. "Rrrrrgh! We gotta figure out the secret of his power!"

* * *

After the two hedgehogs had left, a third spiny Mobian entered the scene. Her purple skin and black outfit had concealed her well in the night. She walked over to a particular pile of rubble and started clearing pieces out of the way, until she had uncovered a small room behind it. On a contrastingly metal pedestal lied a strange red crystal, nearly identical in luster to the one on Infinite's chest. Her suspicion was confirmed – the seemingly random attacks on the jungle were targeting these gems inside the secret rooms she had found.  
  
She pocketed the gem in her coat and returned to the cover of forested darkness.


	11. Stage 10: Far Outlands – Wild Zones

Amy pulled back her chair from her computer and rubbed her eyes. As glad as she was that the Resistance could finally fight back against Eggman, running ops for an actual battle against the Eggman Army was a lot more harrowing than the missions they had been doing for the last half-a-year, which mostly fell somewhere between buying time and search-and-rescue.  
  
It was especially frustrating when the field commander was everyone's favorite Knucklehead. He was great at offensive tactics and in training their Mobian troops how to be effective in combat. Since their only large supply of weapons had been destroyed by the Red Mask, that was basically all the firepower they had. Most of the humans they rescued were defenseless against Eggman's killer machines.  
  
Neither of those strengths had anything to do with defense, guile, or subtlety, which were all key when fighting against a larger and stronger army. Most of that fell on Amy, with some help from Espio and Rouge on the few occasions they weren't in the field. Unfortunately, today was not one of those days, so she had just spent the last several hours trying to direct their forces through the jungle.  
  
On the flipside, the reason the others weren't available was because their newly stolen shuttles meant the Resistance could finally try and find other survivor groups. She was expecting news from either of their scouting parties any time now. She stretched and returned to her screen to pull up their latest report on potential outposts.

* * *

1\. GUN Fortress: Designed to withstand apocalyptic scenarios, like the Black Arms invasion. Status: Completely sealed and under siege; no means of observation.  
  
2\. Blue Ridge: Secluded, self-sufficient, and fortified against high-powered forces, due to its nature as a refugee settlement from the Perfect Chaos attack. Status: conquered, reasons unknown.  
  
3\. Grand Metropolis: Technologically advanced, history of repelling desert raids, developed anti-Eggman weaponry due to Egg Fleet invasion. Status: conquered, airspace unsafe to approach.  
  
…

* * *

The pink hedgehog sighed, rapping her fingers on the desk as she scrolled through the list once more. She had read this report at least a half-dozen times, and she could never wrap her head around it. Every civilization, no matter how big or strong, had been completely overwhelmed by Eggman. There was not a single military base that wasn't either seized or blown off the map. How many times has he tried to conquer the world by now? How did it get to the point where everyone _needs_ Sonic to keep things in balance? All it took was for Eggman's monster to get him and it was all over. Shadow, too; Amy knew Rouge was taking all these recon missions as an excuse to try and figure out how the Ultimate Lifeform could've backstabbed the world he'd sworn to protect like that. The bat spent a lot of time by herself deep in Eggman's territory.  
  
Amy was called to attention when her computer notified her of an incoming call from the Chaotix. They had been directed to scan remote areas that Eggman may have spared for a lack of value. It was a stretch, but they were running out of options.  
  
 **Amy:** "HQ here. How are things over there?"  
  
 **Vector:** "We've come up short on people, but something else has caught our eye."  
  
 **Espio:** "There's a large area a few hundred kilometers south of the Temple of Gaia at Mazuri that's completely void of Eggman's forces."  
  
 **Charmy:** "There's this one weird signal that's buzzing around the area, though!"  
  
 **Amy:** "Do you think it's responsible for the robot destruction? It could be Omega."  
  
 **Espio:** "There's a decent possibility. However, it makes periodic trips to the center of this area and rests for some duration of time, during which time we lose its signal. We believe it may be guarding something."  
  
 **Vector:** "Something… or someone. Want us to check it out?"  
  
 **Amy:** "I know how well you handle negotiations, Vector. Let me take care of this."  
  
 **Vector:** "Hey, what's that supposed to mean? And what if it's hostile to us, too?"  
  
 **Amy:** "I'll have you know, I've taken down quite a few giant killer robots in my time. Besides, Silver's group completed their mission, after several hours. If I spend any more time staring at computer screens, I think my eyes will fall right out of my head."  
  
 **Charmy:** "Oh no! We can't let that happen."  
  
 **Espio:** "Very well. We will return to base immediately."

* * *

After an anxious overnight shuttle ride, Amy stepped out into the shadow of a small mountain range. Given that the unidentified entity was destroying every Eggman robot in its vicinity, approaching it with an Eggman-branded shuttle in broad daylight was a really bad idea. The plan was for her to set down somewhere it hopefully wouldn't be able to find her and climb one of the tall mountains here to get a better view of what was going on, and maybe also get its attention as a potential ally rather than a foe. It also meant she had to go completely dark for this mission.  
  
Looking up at the grass-covered mountainside, it was apparent that it was going to be too steep for easy climbing. If she were as fast as Sonic, she could probably just run up the side of it in a minute or so, but as it were, her athletic talents had only ever laid with acrobatics. It still paled in comparison to Silver's ability to fly with psychokinesis, or for any of the male hedgehogs to use Chaos Control and just teleport through any obstacles in their way.  
  
With a huff, she banished those thoughts from her mind. Now wasn't the time to let her insecurities get ahold of her. She had the skills she needed to pull off this mission and pull her weight just like everybody else.  
  
The hike started fairly simply, as she was still in the foothills. None of the knolls were large enough that she couldn't jump over them if she needed to, but many were too gently sloped for jumping at all, which made it rather boring.  
  
That didn't last long, as the ground started to become littered with robot parts. Up ahead, she saw a bridge passing parallel to the ridge, looking relatively undamaged despite the carnage around it. She picked up a severed arm and was surprised to find it in near-pristine condition, minus the slagging from the explosion of its former body. It didn't look like it could have been destroyed more than a couple days ago. _The source of that signal is here somewhere. I had better keep my guard up._  
  
Soon, the pink hedgehog had reached the mountain proper and needed to start flexing her capabilities as it became more and more vertical. For the ledges that were a little too high, she could give herself some extra oomph to jump in mid-air. For the ones that were a little too far, she could plant her trusty Piko Piko Hammer in the ground and use it as a springboard to launch herself forward, spinning gracefully to keep her momentum. The higher she got, the smaller the ledges were, and the more likely there was to be sharp or big rocks protruding from the cliff face.  
  
By the time Amy reached a stable enough crevice to rest, the sun was nearing its peak in the sky. Looking around her, she appeared to be in a valley between two of the peaks, which meant the hard part of climbing was nearly over. She sat in the small remaining shadow of the peak and allowed herself to relax and enjoy the greenery around her. It was refreshing to be away from the din of the City and the war that had everyone constantly on edge for so long now. The grass still felt dry as she ran her hand through it, but at least it was naturally dry and not due to months of smoke and fire drying out the air.  
  
After a short time, she forced herself to stand and get moving again. The ground was still steep here, although the enclosed space gave her more places to plant her boots. As she slowly made her way up and the rocky surface dipped and rose, she started to see wooden beams built into the side of the mountain. They weren't a pretty job, by any means, but like the bridge and the robot, they looked recent. They also became more complete the farther she went. As ladders and sloped walkways and even a basic pulley transport system started to appear, it became apparent what the structures were for: a mining operation.  
  
Somewhere around here was a group of people, as this was too large for a single individual to complete; with knowledge of stonemasonry, if not metalworking; and who knew how to fight Eggman's robots. Her guess was the anomalous being was some kind of cloaking airship with a crew of people getting by out here in the wilderness. But who could it possibly be?  
  
Soon, the path came to a dead end as the mountain in front of her sloped up too steeply for walking. None of the ladders seemed to come down the pass to where she was, though. After a little bit of hunting, she found a support beam embedded diagonally in the ground near her and decided that was the best she was going to get. She hoisted herself onto the beam, making sure it could carry her weight, and began to climb. The plank met in an X-shape with one going higher up in the same direction, and she carefully swung herself around to the other side to ascend the second one. As more beams entered her reach, she began using them as swinging bars, hopping across gaps or swinging on top of them when the rock wall wasn't within reach.  
  
After a few intense minutes, she clambered up onto the walkway system. It was enticing to explore, but she knew that if anyone was here, she either would have heard their digging or they would have heard her climbing the structure. Re-orienting herself to her direction of travel, she spotted a cave going through the mountain just ahead and went inside.  
  
The cave curved in an S-shape and brought the female hedgehog out to a wooden viewing platform with a spiral staircase. It was clearly on the far side of the mountain, as the ground sloped away beneath it. She could see all the way out across the savannah for a long distance. Close to the horizon, she spotted something peculiar in the landscape. She couldn't remotely discern what it was from this far, and she wondered if she was just seeing some sort of mirage. But her instinct told her that it was important.  
  
Hastily, she climbed down the staircase and began descending the side of the mountain. This was a careless move, and as she hopped onto one of the flat outcrops, it crumbled beneath her feet, causing her to start sliding down the mountain. Amy gritted her teeth and dug in her boots, thankful for their bulk to provide extra friction. She was able to stop at a very narrow ledge, and slowly shimmied her way along it towards a more stable-looking portion of rock. Just as she was getting close, the rock beneath her crumbled again, and she had to use her hands to catch herself on the edge of the slope. Climbing up wasn't really an option, so she let go and tried to control her slide down the rough incline.  
  
When she stabilized again, she took a moment to catch her breath and futilely attempt to remove the dust from her skin and clothes. _So much for any semblance of stealth on this mission…_ she thought. As she peered out along the levelling terrain, she couldn't find whatever it was that caught her eye. That momentary distraction was apparently enough to lose its location. _Guess I'll have to go back up there…_  
  
Another distraction came in then, one that confirmed her sighting, its location, and made her not want to go there all at once. A dark object launched up from across the field, flying towards her accompanied by the distinct sound of an engine. A hammer materialized in her hands as a black-and-yellow humanoid robot landed about ten meters in front of her.  
  
"Identified: Amy Rose the Hedgehog. Please state your business," Gemerl politely demanded, its pose and tone neutral.  
  
Amy, on the other hand, assumed a battle stance. It was foolish, maybe, to challenge the robot built to replicate the world's former ultimate fighting machine, but nothing could contain the seething rage that had surfaced within her. "You _betray_ humanity and rejoin Dr. Eggman, and you want to know _my_ business?! Right now, it's going to be smashing that third eye like a button at a carnival game!"  
  
"Your hostility is not understood. Chance of immediate de-escalation is low. Engaging self-defense protocols."  
  
"Don't play **dumb** with me, Gemerl!" Amy shouted, crossing the distance and going for a side swing. Her hammer was going to be her main asset in this fight, because her range was the only advantage she had against the robot. There would be no time for complicated acrobatics; Gemerl would capitalize on even a single mistake.  
  
Predictably, the fake Gizoid stepped backwards to dodge the blow, engaging its thrusters once more to take to the air. It circled her slowly while hovering at a low altitude. "Logical error: Miles 'Tails' Power programmed me not to lie to Ms. Cream and her friends. As a friend of Cream, I would not lie to Amy Rose."  
  
"That doesn't mean anything if you already lied to me! There aren't _any other_ Gizoid models who could have helped beat up and imprison **_my Sonic!_** " It was foolish, certainly, to charge Gemerl, but her rage had only accelerated as the conversation continued on. She went for an overhand swing that it effortlessly dodged, and in the blink of an eye, it used the gap in her guard to clear the distance between them and get its own hold on the Piko Piko.  
  
" _Gemerl!_ Is that any way to treat a guest?" a new, soft voice called. Both combatants froze in place, recognizing exactly who it was. Amy turned her head, tears already starting to form in her eyes as a rabbit the color of orange sherbet flew towards them. She dropped everything to rush over to the rabbit, leaving the sleek black robot holding her comical red-and-yellow hammer with a dumb look on its face.  
  
Cream dropped from the sky and hopped with surprising speed straight into Amy's chest. The two best friends embraced tightly, laughing and crying and spinning in circles. When the circles wore her out, Amy simply kneeled and continued to hold Cream in place. Eventually, she relinquished her friend and gave her the motherly one-over. Instead of her usual red dress, Cream was wearing a simpler tan one, and her shoes were muddy and faded. Physically, though, she looked okay, and that's all Amy really cared about.  
  
"C-C-Cream– I-I-I th-thought– h-how did…?"  
  
"Shhhhh, it's okay, Amy. Gemerl was here to protect us the whole time, you see? Mama and Cheese and Chocola are okay, too."  
  
"B-but… Gemerl… what happened to S-S-S-Sonic…"  
  
"There's no way Gemerl could have helped from all the way over here."  
  
"N-no… it… helped E-E-Eggman. Shad-Shadow did too. And Metal S-S-Sonic was there. Tails had to watch the whole th-thing."  
  
"I trust Mr. Tails, but that story doesn't make any sense. Let's go rest back at home for a while. And I want to show you around!"

* * *

As they entered town, it quickly became clear why this settlement had been so hard to spot. It was literally nestled in the foothills, with the hills having been hallowed out to serve as caves to hold refugees. Hiding between the hills were some tents made of a tan cloth that disguised them pretty well from above. Amy knew that it wouldn't have stopped Eggman if he really wanted to take it, but the combination of being remote, disguised, and having Gemerl around made it not worth the effort.  
  
They were quickly approached by a dusty-yellow Mobian, an oddity among the mostly humans with mostly dark skin doing their business around the settlement. The Mobian was a dog with flopped, furry ears. It wore a pale, sleeveless jumpsuit, with a small bump in the chest that gave away her femininity. A brown sunhat shaded her golden eyes, which were also covered with brown glasses. She wore work gloves and a pair of boots wrapped in a plaid cloth. The outfit was accessorized with matching plaid scarf.  
  
"Cream, where did you and Gemerl go off to? Who's this?" the dog asked, worried. She had an accent that was slightly drawled but otherwise suggested she was a native of the region.  
  
"Wheat, this is my best friend Amy! She flew here all the way from the UF just to find us! There are survivors in Central City!"  
  
"Wow, amazing!" Wheat commented, grabbing one of the hedgehog's hands with both of her own and shaking it enthusiastically. "Wheat the Retriever, it's a pleasure."  
  
"If you're wondering, Amy," Cream said, noticing her friend's confused look, "Wheat's the one that keeps Gemerl in tip-top shape!"  
  
"Confirmation," Gemerl added. "Wheat takes very good care of me."  
  
Wheat shot him a look. "You need to take care of yourself, mister! You can't just keep flying off when I'm in the middle of working on you!"  
  
"I am sorry. The unidentified visitor in Echo Mine was higher in priority than minor performance optimizations."  
  
"They're _longevity_ optimizations, so that you don't rust over from all this hard work," the canine huffed. "But you're right. A few hours won't kill you, but it might kill all of us. I'd like to get back to work if that's alright, though."  
  
"Understood."  
  
Parting ways with Wheat and Gemerl, Amy and Cream traveled next to a specific cave in a hill. None of the burrows had real doors, just hanging cloths to provide some privacy. They could see as they entered that a taller rabbit wearing a gray shirt and overalls was tending to a kettle over a fire. Two small creatures with round faces and bodies were flying next to her, one a cyan color and the other a very dark brown.  
  
"You're home early, Cream," Vanilla noted, an ear perking up without her needing to turn around.  
  
"Chao chao!" the two Chao chirped.  
  
"Something came up out in the field. Look who I brought home with me!"  
  
"It's not another bird is it–" her mom said as she looked back, only to freeze when she saw who was standing at her entrance.  
  
"Hi, Ms. Vanilla," Amy greeted with a small wave.  
  
Again without words, they walked up and hugged each other, albeit a more courteous hug than the one shared with the smaller rabbit.  
  
"It's good to see you, Amy. Would you like some tea?"

* * *

"Ms. Vanilla, I don't know how you do it, but your tea is always the best."  
  
"I find that it tastes better after a hard day's work. Dear, it sounds like you've been working for six months without a break."  
  
"Plus, there's a secret ingredient!" Cream piped in.  
  
"Honey, if you keep telling people that, it won't be a secret anymore."  
  
"Hee hee!"  
  
The Rabbit residence looked as homely as it could be for being formed out of packed dirt and mud. A simple table made from the trunk of a huge baobab tree sat in the center, with some matching chairs around it. Their tea was served using an earthenware set made of fired clay, boiled over a small fire pit in the back of the cave. Several pots with various items in them were gathered in a corner. A small side chamber had a hammock resting in it, tied to two wooden posts secured on both ends with the walls of the cave.  
  
"So how did you escape all the way out here from Floral Forest Village?" Amy asked.  
  
"News of Eggman's invasion spread faster than the invasion itself," Vanilla explained. "There was plenty of time for us to reach evacuating ships. Coming to Mazuri was actually Cream's idea."  
  
"Really?"  
  
"Yes!" Cream answered. "I remembered how you had told us about Sonic's world adventure and all the nice people he helped. When the darkness spread over the world, the news said the Gaia Gates were the safest parts. Something told me that we would be safest there this time, too."  
  
"Well, you picked the safest spot in the whole world, it seems. You're the first group of survivors we've encountered."  
  
Cream looked down at that, her happiness at her achievement replaced by sorrow of the news. Amy regretted her words instantly – she realized that wasn't a burden the child should have known about.  
  
"If I may ask," Vanilla redirected, "who exactly is we? It's not just you and Tails, is it?"  
  
"No! Knuckles, Rouge, Espio, Charmy, Vector, even Silver, we're all together in the City, doing our best to fight Eggman's invasion. We even have a couple of new faces who are a great help! And most importantly, Sonic was only captured by Eggman, and we freed him!"  
  
"That's such a relief to hear that everyone is accounted for."  
  
"What about Miss Blaze?" Cream asked.  
  
Amy's own face because downcast. "We… don't know where she is. Silver and Knuckles said she tried defending Angel Island when Eggman's invasion began, but all we know is that the island fell into the ocean, and Knuckles doesn't have the Master Emerald. Wait… how did you know she was even here from her dimension?"  
  
Cream set down her tea and went to one of the pots. From within, she grabbed an envelope and returned to show it to Amy.  
  
"Miss Blaze visited us some time ago. She said we needed to deliver this to Mr. Silver. I haven't read it. Mama taught me better than to read other people's letters. If you're going back, I can give it to him!"  
  
Amy glanced at Cream's mother, who looked quite concerned. She took one of Cream's hands in her own and grabbed the letter with the other. "Sorry, Cream, but you need to stay here. It's not safe out there."  
  
"No! I need to help everyone fight Eggman!"  
  
"Have you heard the stories of Eggman's new general?"  
  
"You mean the red thing with the powers?"  
  
"Yes, that one. His name is Infinite. And he's unlike any enemy we've ever encountered before, Cream. He shows no mercy. He even hurts people because he finds it fun. Eggman has a goal, but Infinite… has a problem. You don't want to see the cruel types of misery he has brought to all the people of the world. We can't… _I_ can't allow even the chance that he will lay his hands on you. Do you understand that?"  
  
Cream was silent for a few moments. Amy looked at Vanilla again, who gave her a knowing smile and a nod.  
  
"… yes, I do. But I want to help, somehow. I've been taking on all sorts of tasks to help around here. What can I do to help you?"  
  
"Just keep doing that! We're going to need as many people as we can to help us once we take back the world from Eggman. The more you learn and practice sustaining a community, the better we'll be when it comes time to rebuild everything."  
  
"I'll do my best, Amy!"  
  
They hugged once more, but Cream released herself quickly. "That reminds me! There's someone else here you need to see."

* * *

It was almost sunset by the time they had caught up and finished their conversation. Amy didn't want to keep everyone in the dark too long, since her shuttle was offline and that's where her comms were running through. Cream had insisted that she see this person and was almost dragging her away from the village in a direction tangential to the path back to the shuttle.  
  
They crested a hill to see a stream flowing down from the mountainside and running out into the plains. It was a beautiful sight to have the sun cast red on the clouds and on the vast expanse in front of them. However, even that splendor did not make the third Mobian on the scene any less conspicuous. It was very hard not to notice a 600-pound purple cat casting his fishing line into the stream.  
  
"Biiiiig!" Amy called, running down the hill to meet her oversized buddy. The cat nonchalantly looked back just in time to see the pink hedgehog pounce on him with full force, knowing full well he wouldn't be nudged by it.  
  
"Amy? Is that you?" Big asked in his slow, deep voice.  
  
"It is, Big! It's me!"  
  
"Ribbit." A big, green frog leaped out of the grass onto Big's giant foot.  
  
"And it's Froggy, too! Cream, why didn't you tell me about this before?"  
  
"I wanted to keep it a surprise so you could go home in good spirits!"  
  
"Amy's going home? But she just got here!"  
  
"I know, Big, but… I'm very busy nowadays. That's why I haven't seen you in so long."  
  
"Oh. I'm busy, too."  
  
"Catching fish for the village?"  
  
"Oh please no," Cream interrupted squeamishly. "I don't like fish. Big eats all of his catches by himself."  
  
"Yeah…" Big mused, pausing to collect some kind of thought. "There was one time I caught something that wasn't a fish. Do you want to see?"  
  
"Sure thing, Big."  
  
Big reached into his bag and pulled out something shiny. When he opened his hand, Amy gasped in disbelief, her own hands flying to her mouth in shock. It was a diamond-cut gem, deep blue in color, and exuding a sort of power that was extremely distinct. No doubt about it, what he was holding was a Chaos Emerald.


	12. Stage 11: Park Avenue – City

A sleek, white, humanoid machine stood out in the aged gray hallway it patrolled. The walls and floor were concrete, built for security over aesthetics, and it was lit only by old fluorescent lamps that hung from the ceiling. The only other exclusions from the drab were a steel door connected to a high-tech scanner and an anthropomorphic white bat hanging in the darkness above it.  
  
The robot passed to the door, and the scanner recognized it as authorized for entry with a ping. At that moment, Rouge the Bat dropped, foot extended and spinning around in a pirouette, and split the robot open like a pistachio. She pressed herself to the wall as the door opened, peeking to make sure there wasn't anyone on the other side, and advanced into the room.  
  
Her objective was a console attached to a very large pillar in the center of the room, if it could even be called a pillar when it filled half of the space. She took out a set of wires and clamps connected to a pair of earbuds and began attaching them to parts of the console.  
  
"C'mon, c'mon…" she mumbled, stealing a glance over her shoulder to look for enemies.  
  
After some more fiddling and flipping of switches, she was able to pick up static. With some turning of dials, that upgraded to a handful of valid radio frequencies.  
  
 **Voice 1:** "…come live in Dr. Eggman's Empire, and begin your new…"  
  
 **Voice 2:** "…live from Studiopolis, it's time for Scratch's Weather Report…"  
  
 **Voice 3:** "…with that, the disposal of the Phantom Ruby prototypes is complete."  
  
Rouge froze. _Phantom Ruby? Prototypes?_ The voice sounded very clear, but simultaneously like there was static appearing directly in her brain. She could only think of one candidate within Eggman's army who would fit that description.  
  
 **Eggman:** "Good. Those defective models could have activated to the DNA of anyone who triggered them."  
  
 **Red Mask:** "Hmph, only a being with my strength of will could ever activate it."  
  
 **Eggman:** "It doesn't matter now, with the lab locked down in Mystic Jungle. Which reminds me, didn't Sonic run into you there to try and stop you?"  
  
 **Red Mask:** "Yes, but… he was powerless against me. There is no need for concern."  
  
 _It hesitated there… sounds like someone's got a little secret._  
  
 **Eggman:** "You let the hedgehog LIVE?! That is a great source of concern!"  
  
 **Red Mask:** "For you, perhaps. He has beaten you for over a decade, yet I defeated him in our first encounter."  
  
 **Eggman:** "I've defeated him before, too! Slipping away at the last minute is how he catches you off guard. Don't _ever_ underestimate him."  
  
There was no reply to that.  
  
 **Eggman:** "What is it?"  
  
 **Red Mask:** "…nothing. We move forward with the plan?"  
  
 **Eggman:** "Of course! When it's complete, the Resistance will be erased. The world will be nothing but ashes, from which a glorious Eggman Empire will rise!"  
  
 **Red Mask:** "Yes, any insurgency will yield to the Phantom Ruby's power. All will submit."  
  
Rouge disconnected her gear. As much as it pained her to uncover no further information about Shadow or Omega yet again, the Resistance needed to know what she had heard _immediately_. If she was a bit tech savvier, she might be able to hijack the radio waves and broadcast directly to them, but the chances of getting caught doing that were likely too high anyway. She would have to return in person and hope she got there before it was too late.

* * *

After a mere 24 hours without sleep, Ledge held in his hands the first recreated White Wispon. It was, essentially, a modified pistol, with the traditional barrel replaced with an oblong spherical reactor that produced short bursts of Color Energy. Simple, recognizable, easy to make, and hopefully effective, once Amy picked up the first batch for their soldiers to test.  
  
However, the more interesting discovery within the factory was a strange hammer that he had determined was another kind of Wispon. Scans indicated that it was functional, but he could barely lift the thing by himself, let alone try it out to confirm the data. Amy would be able to help with that one, too.  
  
Still, an abandoned Wispon inside an active Eggman facility only enlarged the puzzle regarding their existence. It was pretty poor handling of a weapon that had increasingly assertive evidence of trumping Infinite's power, which is a big deal when it's the cornerstone of Eggman's entire means of control. He could only guess that Eggman didn't know it was there, but that lead to the question of Alpha and her mission to take them. It didn't seem like the Doctor to lose something so carelessly that he had to hire someone to find them again for him, but how could she have gotten onto the Death Egg by her lonesome if she wasn't under his employment? What would she be doing with them if not returning them to their original creator?  
  
Now that he had finished his work, he booted up his communications console, which he shut down earlier to prevent himself from getting distracted. When it finished coming online, it alerted him that he had over a dozen missed calls from Amy and the Resistance Base. He wasn't expecting her arrival for another twenty minutes, but maybe she was early. Fortunately, communications logs were invented for scenarios just like this.  
  
 **Amy:** "Amy Rose to HQ, I'm almost there to help. I was able to save around fifteen minutes in transit. What's everyone's status?"  
  
 **Tails:** "Eggman's army has broken through our defenses! They're in the City! We need to get these people out of here!"  
  
 **Knuckles:** "Who can we send? Sonic and Silver need time to heal."  
  
 **Espio:** "Espio here. We've engaged enemy forces at Seaside Hill. We can't spare anyone!"  
  
 **-Incoming SOS. Origin: Boar the Grizzly. Location: Park Avenue-  
  
Boar:** "This is the 8th unit! We're pinned down under heavy enemy fire!"  
  
 **Knuckles:** "Man, it looks like I've got no choice. When you retrieve the Wispon shipment, tell Ledge he's got a tough break. I need him to head back to the City and save those civilians!"  
  
 _Aw, crap._  
  
Ledge snatched his Burst Wispon off of his desk and scrambled to the core where the delivery site was. Two creates awaited him there, each one watched over by one of the diligent Klagen who obeyed him now as the owner of the place. The unmistakable flying orange brick of an Eggman shuttle was parked behind them, accompanied by a pink hedgehog who looked about ready to slap him in the face.  
  
"Ledge, you dolt! Why didn't you respond to our transmissions?"  
  
"I was busy with the production of my latest inventions!" he replied, gesturing to the crates. "Behold, the Whi-"  
  
"No time for that! We're pulling you out of retirement, rookie! Let's move it!"  
  
The inventor pulled out a controller and used it to command his robot to load the crates.  
  
"Stooping to that nickname was uncalled for. I already saw the status update," he muttered.  
  
"Doesn't matter. You're still part of our team, you need to be on the same page as us. Saving minutes means saving lives."

* * *

Thick smoke congested the air well before the shuttle made it within sight of the City. Thankfully, GPS tracking on their communicators allowed the shuttle to pinpoint the SOS signal without needing clear visuals; the sight wasn't pretty anyhow when they approached the battles ongoing below. Multiples fires raged from buildings throughout the city, and further flashes of metal and energy all around indicated widespread skirmishing, meaning their army was no longer fighting as a united front.  
  
The 8th unit was hiding in the shadow of a several-story sky-blue building, covering from an onslaught of firebombs. From above, Ledge could see that they were being lobbed by a particular few Egg Pawns in a squad that were standing on top of metal spheres covered in spikes and _juggling_ the bombs. He wished he could call it impractical, but it was clearly working quite well against them.  
  
Only a handful of soldiers, all Mobian and none armed, remained of the unit. They freaked out as the shuttle began to land next to them until they could see the friendly faces onboard as the hatch opened.  
  
"You know, it would solve a lot of problems to paint over the Eggman faces," Ledge commented to Amy.  
  
"We haven't exactly had the time…"  
  
A blue bear approached them, specifically ultramarine by Ledge's estimation, and he thought him quite imposing with his elongated body and thick limbs. His standard-issue blue-gray Resistance uniform was covered by a black longcoat, accented in red and gold, and he adorned a dark blue hat, creating a look befitting an admiral in a navy. His intimidation factor was beefed up by his enormous, round ears and a split black moustache that extended to the end of his broad snout. He saluted them energetically.  
  
"How relieving that you're here! Boar the Grizzly, at your command," he greeted in a deep, somewhat gruff voice.  
  
"We came as soon as we could!" Amy responded. "Park Avenue is too central to City travel for us to lose control of it."  
  
"I'm well aware, ma'am. We need a new plan if we want to secure it."  
  
"You're in luck, then." Ledge assured, unable to hide the big smirk appearing on his beak. "I have some new toys for you to play with." He patted the crates.  
  
Without hesitation, the soldiers clambered aboard and removed the lids of the crates. They quickly armed themselves from the one containing the White Wispons, except for the two of them who were examining the other crate.  
  
"What's this big blue one?" one of them asked. Inside the crate was a large blue square, with one face covered by a yellow knob that was attached to a wide steel plate that wrapped to guard an adjacent side. Smaller beams went down the center of the two faces adjacent to the plate, each with three circular panels decorating them. The back of the cube had a larger circular hole, and a padded handle protruded from the bottom that showed that the rest of the weapon was one giant hammerhead.  
  
"Ah. That's my latest design, the Cube Wispon! It is exceptionally heavy, so do mind that you don't dama- hey, what are you doing?!"  
  
Boar hefted the Wispon out of the crate with one hand, releasing a pleasured grunt as he bore its weight and waved it experimentally. "Man, this sure feels great to hold! I could get used to a weapon like this!"  
  
"W-well, uh, be careful with it, don't hurt anyone. Especially me. Please?" Ledge stammered.  
  
"Ha ha ha, don't you worry, little red!" Boar replied, giving the cardinal a pat on the back strong enough to knock him forward.  
  
"Gah! I just said don't hurt me!"  
  
"Incoming!" a soldier interrupted, grabbing their attention. They turned to see her pointing at the horde of Egg Pawns, including the juggling ones, which had advanced to their hiding place behind the building.  
  
"Quickly, use this! Hit the ground!" Ledge commanded, procuring a capsule with a cubical blue creature similar in appearance to the hammer.  
  
Boar snatched the capsule and shoved it into the slot. With a cry, he jumped out and slammed the hammer into the earth beneath him. It sent out a wave of light, and translucent blue cubes began forming into existence around the shuttle's entrance. They built themselves upwards to create a protective dome. The robots fired an onslaught of bullets and bombs against the barrier, but none of them broke through.  
  
"Now that's what I'm talking about!" Boar whooped.  
  
"A masterpiece!" Ledge agreed. "But it doesn't last long! Ready your countermeasures!"  
  
The shield dissipated soon after that, and the squadron of soldiers fired their Wispons in retaliation. White energy bullets tore through the enemy line, halving its size in a matter of seconds. The display looked just as he remembered it, four months ago. His old squad mates would have been proud.  
  
There was a round of cheers, and at Boar's signal, the unit gathered around him.  
  
"8th unit!" Amy called, her commanding words proven playful by a big grin on her face. "Your orders are… knock Eggman's army into next week!"  
  
A grizzly smile matched her expression, and the two fist bumped briefly before the group turned to leave.  
  
"You heard her, soldiers! Let's move out!"

* * *

Travelling like a stampede, Boar led the unit to the long street known as Park Avenue. He shot a steel cable through a modified version of the wrist-mounted grappling hook launchers they had so many of, swinging around a third-story balcony that overlooked the road to land on it.  
  
Several Egg Pawns awaited him there. Another shot of the cable pierced the chassis of the one in front, and Boar reeled himself in and stomped the robot with both feet on impact, sending it into the other two and knocking them all out of commission.  
  
 **Amy:** "I need a status update on the people who couldn't evacuate in time!"  
  
 **Ledge:** "I have already engaged with enemy forces and am unable to search for civilians right now!"  
  
 **Arc:** "The fighting's too fierce for us to help out, too!"  
  
 **Knuckles:** "Looks like the Wispon squad is our only hope. The rescue is in your hands!"  
  
 **Boar:** "You can count on us!"  
  
Boar peered out from his perch, plotting their next steps while his troops vanquished the next round of Egg Pawns on the road. He was still learning the layout of the City, even after being here for almost half a year. The taller buildings downtown looked to be where the greatest amount of fighting was taking place, judging by the number of flying robots around there.  
  
Tremors began to shake the area, crumbling some of the buildings even further. They came in short, regular intervals. Boar had enough combat experience to know the difference between a true earthquake and rumbling from a very large moving object. He jumped down to meet his people, and their eyes gave an unspoken agreement to proceed forward. They climbed up a break in the road to see that the bridge across the cliffside had been smashed into smithereens.  
  
The culprit was a giant, black robot with a white dome as a head and single, red eye that spelled doom. It was standing in a square area so completely destroyed it couldn't even be called rubble, because the structures had been pulverized into a layer of ash and dust. Despite being much farther downhill, it stood taller than Boar did. And two more of them were marching away from the shore to other areas of town.  
  
 **Silver:** "Those are Death Egg Robots! They're being mass-produced now?!"  
  
 **Tails:** "Uh oh, that isn't good. Might be too much for the rookies to handle."  
  
 **Knuckles:** "Well, we can't just ignore them. You got this!"  
  
"Sir, what should we do?" the female soldier from earlier asked. She was a pink cat who Boar knew to be only a teenager. He made a point of getting to know his squad as a group of people.  
  
A nebulous strategy began to form in Boar's head. The blue grizzly wished he had more of those Wisps right now, but then he noticed that two of the three lights on the side of his weapon were lit. He pressed down the special button and brought the hammer down again. More blue cubes sprouted from it, forming a flat plane across the gap to the road on the other side. The middle light on the side turned off, leaving one remaining.  
  
"I think I know what to do. Let's hurry!" he said. The unit crossed the magical bridge and raced down the sloped path. The road ended in a construction barrier overlooking a drop, but Boar ignored it and leapt off. Below, there was a circular plaza occupied by a ring of a different kind of Egg Pawn. Instead of blasters, each one had its hands formed into a lance twice its height and a spiked shield. Boar, again, ignored them, by smashing his hammer down right in the middle, sending out another blue shock wave. At once, the Pawns were encased in individual cubes of their own, and a follow-up hammer smack dissolved the cubes and their inhabitants.  
  
"Nice work, sir! A fine display of skill!" a stout teal bird complimented, as the rest of the unit joined him below.  
  
"Yeah, you really showed them who's boss!" a green gecko added.  
  
"Ha ha! That's what they deserve for messing with this city!" Boar exclaimed. "Alright, huddle around, here's the game plan."  
  
He paused for a moment to make sure everyone was collected. "Park Avenue leads out to the edge of the city in the west. I need you to clear the street so we can evacuate the citizens safely."  
  
"Will you not be joining us, sir?" the gecko asked.  
  
"No. I need to stop those Death Egg Robots, and don't think of asking to come with. This is a dangerous plan, and it is my duty to keep my soldiers safe. Your efforts are needed here."  
  
"By… ourselves?" the cat said, looking quite nervous.  
  
"I believe in you!" he proclaimed, loudly enough that it startled everyone. "This is a war won by the people! With these Wispons, you have the **power!** We can't let evil win, so we're gonna take them out! Our destiny lies before us… it's time for **justice!** It's time to go **fight!** VICTORY IS **OURS** FOR THE TAKING!"  
  
" **YEAH!** " everyone shouted in unison.  
  
"We shall meet after the battle is over! Bring 'em to their knees!"  
  
"UNDERSTOOD!"  
  
Boar watched his unit brigade down the street with vigor. He turned and launched his cable onto the nearest rooftop to begin his own quest through downtown. It wasn't long until he came upon a building with a massive, circular hole in it, consistent with the skewering arm of a Death Egg Robot. The remains of ordinary-looking homes were exposed; seeing them made the bear very mad. This wasn't taking down the Resistance, it was just mindless destruction. He shot his cable at the roof of the hole and swung underneath, allowing his anger to fuel his haste when he landed.  
  
 **Boar:** "I know a way to stop the Death Egg Robots. Can you stall until I get there?"  
  
 **Amy:** "We can try, but what about your unit?"  
  
 **Cat Soldier:** "We've broken through enemy lines! The rescue is under way!"  
  
 **Bird Soldier:** "We're going to secure an escape route so there is a safe way out."  
  
 **Boar:** "See, nothing to worry about! I'm so proud."  
  
 **Knuckles:** "Thanks to all of you, things are turning around! Let's keep this momentum going!"  
  
As Boar ran along the flat roofs, he saw glimpses of some of the battles scattered through the streets. Some of the civilians had taken to fighting alongside the Resistance soldiers, and they even looked to be an equal match for Eggman's troops despite having nothing but makeshift bludgeons and their own wits.  
  
That was, until he got out of the denser parts of the city center. The extra space invited bigger robots, still resembling Egg Pawns in form, that were shrugging off everyone's attacks and retaliating with hammers and maces that made his Cube Wispon look small. He knew they couldn't possibly match the power it held within, though.  
  
One particular Egg Breaker was having a time with a group of soldiers, utilizing a laser to cut off those outside the range of its mace. Grimacing, Boar abandoned his route to take an opportunity to attack it. He leapt from the rooftop, rolling up with his hammer extended to keep his momentum on a path that would hit the robot head-on.  
  
The blue cartwheel of Boar bore into the metal being's hull, hitting it several times on his way down and toppling it over. When he landed, the hammer's arc brought it through to the ground, and the Wispon encased the robot in a large blue cube to match its size.  
  
"Thanks, you're a lifesaver!" one of the soldiers commented.  
  
He gave them a solute and continued on his way. The Death Egg Robots were getting close.  
  
 **Tails:** "Boar, what's your plan? We can't stop them for much longer!"  
  
 **Silver:** "I came out to help, and we're still barely halting their advance!"  
  
 **Boar:** "I'm almost in position! Just keep them near the sewage lines!"  
  
 **Ledge:** "I rather hope you're not serious…"  
  
A several-story maintenance building built into a hole where several tunnels met proved that he was. The bear grinded down the exterior railing that spiraled around the square structure and entered a tunnel in the direction of the sea. He wasn't concerned about sanitation, as the City had not had running water for some time now. No one was going to be using anything that fed into the tunnels. Plus, this certainly wasn't his first foray into advantageous underground passages.  
  
Many of the lights that served to guide maintenance people were out, but Boar had a good sense of direction. It wasn't too difficult for him to track the position of the Death Egg Robot, due in no small part to the tremors that it caused with every step. Eventually, he reached a shaft illuminated in yellow from the late-morning sun alongside what lights remained in it. A tremendous quake nearly knocked him over along with all the platforms in the shaft, flickering the lights as well. _It has to be close now,_ he thought.  
  
With his strength, he clambered up the ladders to the top in little time, keeping a short length of his cable in hand just in case. However, the hatch to the surface refused to budge when he pushed on it. He groaned a bit, then took his Wispon and smashed it against the door to force it open.  
  
He wasn't expecting to see the imposing black mech directly over the hole, its single red eye glowing menacingly as a couple of small figures flew around its head. Activating the last charge of his Blue Wisp, he climbed out and brought the hammer down directly between his feet, as if breaking ground with a pickaxe. Instead of breaking things down, a blue cube built itself there, lifting him above it. Rapidly, more and more cubes grow into a tower, ascending the bear all the way up to eye-level with that red eye. Immediately, it locked onto him, and he didn't hesitate to leap off before it destroyed his foothold.  
  
"HRRRRAAAAUUUUGGGHHHHH!" he bellowed. Using the same spinning maneuver, he collided with the eye, which shattered it and drove the hammer to the hilt into the robot's head. It discharged its Color Energy, and while the titan looked to be too big to cube-ify, it did seem to stop all functions.  
  
After a suspenseful couple of seconds, the colossal enemy fell backwards. Like a wrecking ball, it crashed through any buildings in its way as it toppled, even destroying the street to create a sizeable crater where it landed. After that, it remained still. Boar remained where he was, breathing heavily, in awe of what he had actually just accomplished. The radio erupted in a chaotic round of voices.  
  
 **Silver:** "What was that?!"  
  
 **Amy:** "Boar, are you alright?!"  
  
 **Ledge:** "I'm speechless…"  
  
"Yo, Boar!" a voice called in-person. Arc scaled the side of the metal hull and sat on the swivel where the robot's head met the neck. "That was frickin' radical, dude! And to think Sonic called _me_ crazy… uh, you okay there?"  
  
The bear used his hammer as a cane to pull himself up back to his full height. Even in exhaustion, he presented himself with that rigid military stance. It's not something you ever grow out of. "Yeah… but I might've overdone it some."  
  
 **Knuckles:** "Update from HQ: The enemy's on the run!"  
  
 **Arc:** "Wait, really? Even the other Death Egg Robots?"  
  
 **Tails:** "We drove them off for now, just like we have before. That means our mission is complete!"  
  
 **Knuckles:** "Well done, everyone! Let's rest for a few hours; I'm sure we all need it after our rude awakening this morning. But after that… we have a _lot_ to talk about."


	13. Stage 12: Casino Forest – Mystic Jungle

Silver could sense that there had been a change in the atmosphere at the Resistance meetings. It really wasn't that long ago that each one felt like a funeral: nothing but reports of battles lost, lives lost, territories lost, and opportunities lost. Even the one after they had saved Sonic had an air of uncertainty; as Knuckles said, they hadn't expected to get that far, and they didn't know whether their next moves would be the right ones.  
  
But now, there was something to look forward to. A light of hope shined for them, in an increasing amount of colors. Their dreams of an absolution actually had a chance of coming true. He could see it in every one of their faces: Amy next to him, the Chaotix across, Team Sonic up at the big screen, and the three Wispon holders at the other end of the table.  
  
"Oh good, it looks like no one overslept! That means we can begin." Knuckles joked, bringing Silver out of his poetic musings. The echidna was definitely in high spirits.  
  
"To start off with, I want to give gold star honors to Boar the Grizzly and the rest of the 8th unit of the Resistance, for their instrumental efforts in defending our City today."  
  
There was a round of applause that Boar took with pride.  
  
"Really, great job!" Sonic added. "I knew you could do it if you believed in yourself! I wish we had more people like you with us."  
  
 _Hmm, that's an unusual statement coming from Sonic… and yet…_  
  
"We don't have any, uh, actual gold medals to give you, but it really can't be understated how impressive it is that you knocked out a Death Egg Robot for good," Knuckles continued.  
  
"Hold up, a Death Egg Robot?" Vector remarked in disbelief. "Come on, how am I supposed to top that? We're missing out on all the fun!"  
  
"I'd say the performance of that soldier at the Sea Gate was fairly admirable," Espio commented.  
  
"Oh?" Tails asked. "We haven't looked over your report from that yet."  
  
"Oh, my, gosh, you should've been there!" Charmy exclaimed. He began buzzing eagerly around the room to talk to everyone. "This badger, he's usually our watchman, the kind of guy that doesn't like to do the fighting, y'know? You know what he does? Takes this biiiig bomb, and almost blows Eggman's battleship out of the sky!" The bee flung his limbs out to emphasize his point.  
  
"For real?" Arc asked.  
  
"A direct hit to the launch bay, shutting down all reinforcements." Espio confirmed. "It was a real moment of truth."  
  
"It's good to see so much enthusiasm among our people. It's not something we… have had, up until now," Silver remarked. He shot a glance at Knuckles. "Wouldn't you agree, Commander?"  
  
"This is about the decision I made on the Death Egg, isn't it? I… guess I should apologize for that. I lost faith in our troops, despite everything they sacrificed to help save our world. That's not something a good Commander should ever do."  
  
"Hey, don't beat yourself up about it," Amy said. "None of us could have predicted what was going to happen when that mission went down. We should just be grateful that everything turned out well in the end, and that we have so many brave people willing to join our ranks now. I can hardly imagine what life would be like if Ledge was the only one."  
  
"… yeah," the cardinal absently agreed. All three of the rookies looked especially downtrodden, and it occurred to Silver that they were among the troops, people, and prisoners not long ago, too.  
  
"The White Wispons were a success, in case anyone wasn't aware," Ledge continued, breaking the silence, although his face still didn't reflect the good news he was sharing. "I estimate a relatively short turnaround before I can supply them in large quantities, which means we need to train an army to use them. Boar, as useful as my Cube Wispon would be with you on missions, that seems like a task best suited for your expertise."  
  
"I agree," Boar stated. "If there's anything to be learned from out most recent battle, it's that we will need to have a sizeable standing force ready to defend the City at all times. I had already intended to remain here instead of joining you in the field."  
  
"Good to know," Knuckles said. "The more progress we make, the more motivated Eggman will be to take us out. Which brings us to the elephant in the room."  
  
Everyone turned to Amy, who nodded and took out a shining blue gem from her pocket. Deep like the ocean, it shimmered even under the plain lighting of the ceiling lamp, so lustrous it was practically audible.  
  
"So that's what a Chaos Emerald looks like…" Ledge mused.  
  
"It's so shiny…" Arc added.  
  
"Unfortunately, there's not a whole lot we can do with only the one Emerald," Amy stated. "I mean, Tails often uses one just to power his plane."  
  
"Hey, don't underestimate the capabilities of the Tornado. Not that it matters now…" Tails became downcast, his namesakes drooping to the floor. He shook himself out of it quickly, though, which Silver found noteworthy for the timid fox. "I should be able to set up a Chaos Emerald tracker to find the others, though. It'll take some time to have any appreciable amount of range, especially without Rouge here to help, but it's better than nothing."  
  
"I figured you'd say something like that," Amy said with a smile. "I'm more perplexed by Gemerl, to be honest. I trust Cream, and the only conclusion I can draw from that angle is that Eggman built a second Gemerl to serve as his general."  
  
"It's certainly possible… and consistent with the mechanical focus of Infinite's power," Espio pondered.  
  
"But what does that mean about Shadow and that red guy Sonic fought on the Death Egg?" Silver asked. "They don't look mechanical."  
  
"Shadow _is_ technically an artificial being, so I could see it being some kind of mind control." Sonic suggested. "Zavok, I have no idea, though. Eggman had a conch thing to control him and his groupies, but we don't know if he invented that or not. He didn't have any backups, at the very least. Thoughts, Tails?"  
  
"Beats me. Their planet's called the _Lost_ Hex for a reason. Not much research to be found on it. But Eggman had to get his Wisps from somewhere, it's possible he found a way to mimic the Conch's capabilities and forced Zavok back under his control if he went there to collect them."  
  
Silver picked up a whisper from the red being next to him; Ledge seemed to be contemplating something. "A connection to the Wisps, huh?"  
  
"Hey, wait, aren't there artificial versions of Chaos, too?" Vector asked. "I remember those weird creatures from when we were digging up info on the ARK."  
  
Silver's body tensed. "No… you don't mean…"  
  
"So it _was_ Eggman who attacked Angel Island!" Knuckles realized. He began pacing around. "I should've known! That sneaky little… I'll CRUSH him!"  
  
"It's important that we keep a level head at times like this," Espio advised.  
  
"A _level head?!_ " Knuckles argued back at him. "The Red M–Infinite can already take on all of us on his own, and now we're supposed to fight against the power of the Master Emerald?! Just what level of head are we capable of reaching here?"  
  
"Hey, Knucklehead," Sonic interjected. "You're acting like he _just_ took that favorite rock of yours. If Eggman stole it when all of this started, then the power he has now _includes_ the Master Emerald. Of all the obvious things he can forget sometimes, I highly doubt using something that powerful when he already owns it would be one of them."  
  
The echidna exhaled sharply. "Sure, but… that doesn't change the fact that we now _need_ the Chaos Emeralds to stand a chance. It's like we've gone back to square one like before we had the Wispons! I don't like it one bit."  
  
Silver shook his head. "That's not entirely true. At least this time, we know what we need and how to find it. And look at the bright side: if the Emeralds cancel each other out, and the Wispons cancel out Infinite, then doesn't it boil down to us against Eggman, no gimmicks? That's a fight we win, hands down!"  
  
"Only if you exclude Eggman's generals," Tails noted. "Shadow is a big threat, and the other two are no slouches either."  
  
"Eggman might also have another ace or two hiding up his sleeve," Vector added. He then turned towards Amy. "Speaking of which, since Tails mentioned her – what's the 411 with Rouge?"  
  
She shrugged. "Radio silence, no different than before. At this point, all we can do is pray and hope. Knuckles is right, we have to focus our efforts on the Chaos Emeralds. All three of Eggman's remaining generals are capable of using them."  
  
"I suspect that the Wispons will also be effective against them, if Infinite can be proven to be related to their involvement." Ledge said. "On that note, if we have exhausted our conversation points, I would like to be dismissed to continue my endeavors. I am running on a tight schedule."  
  
"Yeah, sure, do your thing," Knuckles replied, waving him off. "There's not much we can do until Tails has his radar up and running, so meeting adjourned."

* * *

As everyone dispersed, Silver flagged down the pink member of their group.  
  
"Amy!" he called.  
  
"Huh? Oh, Silver! You're here… about the letter, right?"  
  
"Of course. It's gotta be important, especially if it's urgent enough that she couldn't find the time to tell us in person."  
  
She pulled an envelope out of seemingly nowhere and handed it to him. "As I said before, I haven't read it, so we'll just have to find out."  
  
"Right," he concluded, breaking the seal on the envelope. The presence of something so ordinary, and in good condition, suggested that the letter was old, because nothing like that could be found anymore. He took out and unfolded the letter, written in an elegant handwriting that he would expect no less from a princess.  
  
"If you don't mind… I'd like to read it myself first, just in case there's something personal."  
  
"I totally understand."

* * *

_Dear Silver,  
  
I hope this letter finds you in good health in the crisis that is unfolding. I wish I could stay to help fight, especially after what happened to Sonic… I almost cannot believe it to be true. Unfortunately, while I can confirm that Chaos will not be a threat (barring another revival event), doing so has caused the Sol Emeralds to disperse across this dimension. I might have told you this before, but if the Emeralds stay for too long, my dimension will begin to merge with it, with disastrous consequences. It is of utmost priority that I gather every single one and return them safely, for that is my duty as their guardian.  
  
Additionally, since my dimension has become entwined so early into the conflict, it is possible that Eggman Nega is involved. I will need to focus my efforts upon my return to ensuring that he is being kept in check. I know you will be concerned about my safety, but I assure you that I can handle this. Marine has become quite a capable sidekick.  
  
Please contact me once this is all over. Good luck, Silver!  
  
-Blaze_

* * *

Silver sighed, giving the letter back to Amy for her to read.  
  
"It's just an update on what happened after Knuckles and I escaped Angel Island, and why she won't be able to help us."  
  
"I see…" she eventually responded when she had finished reading. "To be honest, that's kind of a bummer. She certainly has a worthwhile reason to have her hands full, but it still would have been nice to have her aid."  
  
"We'll just have to work extra hard to make up for it, then! I won't let her down!"  
  
Amy shook her head in amusement. "You're a strange one sometimes, you know that?"  
  
"No? What do you mean by that? Wait, Amy, come back! Was it something I said?"

* * *

Seeing the sky brighten and burn red as the sun rose over the pale ocean never got old for the hedgehog from the future. That future had been inverted, with the ground blistering with lava and fire and the sky eternally muted in color: a future completely without joy. It was actually a huge reason why he kept finding excuses to delay going back.  
  
Even putting aside the endless stream of world-ending conflicts that jeopardized it, seeing the future changed from how he knew it scared him, even though that was exactly his purpose for leaving. It wouldn't feel like the future he belonged to, when he would know nobody and none of them would understand the struggles he went through to ensure their world wouldn't be in ruin. Ultimately, it would be just as alien to him as the past he had travelled to; by that logic, he might as well stay, since he'd already become accustomed to this time period and made many good friends here. Blaze was the only one that he felt understood that.  
  
Silver turned away from the sun and dropped down towards the entrance to the Resistance HQ. Right now, there was a job to do; he could look at all the sunrises he wanted when it was complete.  
  
Only Tails and Knuckles were inside, working on a device that had been attached rather crudely to the main computer. They must have been there all night long because they looked very tired.  
  
"Making good progress?"  
  
"We're just about finished," the former responded. "Having a previous model helped."  
  
"You're sure up early," Knuckles commented, letting out a large yawn.  
  
"Seems more like you're up late, if you ask me. I wanted to get a head start on whatever we find. The sooner the better!"  
  
"If it means I get to go to bed sooner, I won't argue."  
  
Tails gave his red partner a look, then typed in a few console commands, ending with a triumphant-looking key tap. "Annnnd… it should be online! Let's see what happens."  
  
The screen began mapping out their immediate surroundings and continued to expand its horizons. Several minutes passed, the program reaching to the far side of the continent and beyond without results.  
  
"Hm… that's unusual… I knew it wouldn't be able to scan the whole globe, but I figured at least one of them would appear nearby. They tend to do that a lot."  
  
Just when they were about to turn away and give up, two dots appeared in close proximity to each other near the edge of the radar's range.  
  
"Well look at that! Two for one isn't a bad consolation," Silver said.  
  
"Yeah–wait…" Tails rubbed his eyes and looked at the stream of data being fed into the computer. "These are two different readings. Now, normally you couldn't be able–wouldn't be able to tell because Chaos Emeralds, as their name implies, provide very sporadic energy levels, but I've studied them enough to figure out the methods to the madness. Whatever this second entity is, it's not following the expected patterns."  
  
Something about that phrase worried Silver, but he couldn't quite put his finger on what.  
  
"And you're sure it's not the sleep deprivation talking there?" Knuckles asked.  
  
"Yes! Probably."  
  
Silver focused intently on the radar's image. The data itself was all gibberish to him; it was the location that bothered him. _Oh, that must be it!_  
  
"Hey, hold on a second! These readings are coming from those old ruins where Sonic and I fought Infinite! …what if that _is_ Infinite?"  
  
"With Infinite's strength… I wouldn't doubt it," Tails agreed.  
  
As he continued to observe it, he noticed that the dot was indeed moving. It was moving towards the other reading, setting off alarm bells in Silver's brain. He pointed rather dramatically at its direction of motion.  
  
"It looks like he's after the Chaos Emerald! We need to move _now_ if we want a chance to beat him to it!"  
  
"What?!" Knuckles exclaimed, his fatigue vanishing as he rose from his position on the floor – but then he paused for a moment. "Wait, this is all just a hunch. We shouldn't get too hasty."  
  
"I trust this hunch. Call it a psychic's intuition. Besides, can we allow even the _possibility_ that I'm right? It's game over if I am."  
  
The echidna huffed. "I suppose not…"  
  
"I guess we don't have a choice, then." Tails agreed. "I'll prepare a shuttle for launch. Knuckles, go get Arc. If it really is Infinite, we'll need a Wispon user to stand a chance."

* * *

Their shuttle outran the sun in reaching the Mystic Jungle. It almost outran their communications, too, as they were nearing the point where they'd have to descend before they heard back from HQ.  
  
 **Tails:** "According to the radar, the Chaos Emerald should be near you. There has been surprisingly little movement from the other signal, so I think you two should split up. Silver can secure the Emerald, while Arc will intercept the unidentified entity. We've located a potential shortcut that will allow you to get there swiftly."  
  
 **Arc:** "You want me to solo Infinite?"  
  
 **Knuckles:** "It's not quite that. Running interference only means that you have to get his attention and stall him out, so we can get to the Chaos Emerald first."  
  
 **Tails:** "And we don't _know_ that it's Infinite. This is just a surety in case it's _anything_ that could be racing us for the Emerald. Also, I'm sorta curious what it is regardless of the mission."  
  
 **Knuckles:** "Don't worry, we'll be guiding you the whole time."  
  
 **Arc:** "Alright. You can count on me."  
  
They disembarked soon after. With a nod, Arc leapt off into the jungle, and Silver activated his psychokinesis to lift himself and fly on his own path much faster than he could walk it. He had to be careful to avoid branches and hanging creepers in the darkness, but neither of those elements lasted long when he came across a set of illuminated ruins.  
  
They glowed mostly in yellows and greens, giving them a natural feel despite how out-of-place neon lights were in something so ancient. Unfortunately, the ruins lied on the other side of a canyon cut out by a river, one old and wide enough to be too far for his levitation to forge. The only sign of this being an intended route was a pillar with a glowing head like that of a screw, which had toppled at an angle into a mud pit that had formed around it. Silver had no clue what was causing it to glow if it wasn't even standing to be connected to anything.  
  
Still, the attention it called to its flat top gave him an idea. He jumped over the surrounding mud onto the pillar and pressed his hand into its face, adding his own cyan light as he psychically willed it to push into the resisting earth. When he let go, the pillar shot back, launching him straight across the canyon onto the stone structure.  
  
The inside of the ruined building was quite quizzical. It was built into the face of the mountain, with the far side being a sheer wall of natural stone. Well, natural except for the three identical white curves that had been fit into the mountain side-by-side. He could tell it wasn't carved due to the small gaps on all sides, and altogether it looked like a giant slot machine.  
  
 **Tails:** "Silver, are you there? Sorry for the silence. I opened up a separate communications line for you and me while Amy and Knuckles help out on Arc's end."  
  
 **Silver:** "You woke Amy up for this? She's not going to be happy about that."  
  
 **Tails:** "She'd be even less happy if we ran the whole mission without her knowing. I guess you're welcome for shielding you from her wrath."  
  
The fox let out a large yawn over the comms, and in the gap of conversation something started nagging at Silver's brain. _Amy being upset, confusing round gambling devices, searching for something in the ruins… or someone? Why does this feel familiar?_  
  
 **Silver:** "All is quiet on my end for now. I'll keep you updated if anything comes up."  
  
The only ways out of the room were a hole in the floor and a hole in the ceiling. Since Ledge had the apparently wise insight to try the top first back on the Death Egg, Silver decided that he would go up. Two long green-glowing slabs protruded from the walls, forming what he guessed to be handles for the slot machine. They were large enough that he could stand on them, which gave him an idea where he did just that. With his psychokinesis, he forced the lever down (though with much less resistance than he expected), then released his hold. Like with the pillar before, it sprung back into its previous position rapidly, flicking the hedgehog up and out through the hole onto the roof.  
  
From his new vantage point, he could see several other buildings in different states of decay, all of which were adorned with the same glowing trims as the pillar. Their edges and spires were clearly defined in neon colors spanning the whole spectrum of colors. Silver found the display awe-inspiring; this world never ceased to amaze him. It was no wonder why it would be a popular tourist destination.  
  
As far as his mission was concerned, however, none of those were accessible to him. It took him some time to avert his eyes and identify a place he could hover to, though, in part because the only such place was a comparatively poorly lit corridor hewn into the side of another hill nearby. The only light source (other than some ambient light filtering in through barred windows) was a few stacks of large stone blocks, engraved with the same glowing light.  
  
Silver's curiosity got the better of him, and he made a close inspection of the engravings. Nothing about them looked super special to be producing that light. As he circled around to examine another side, he had to jump back as a large spiked ball nearly bowled him over. It seemed to peer out from the stack before reversing itself and moving back down the length of the hallway. Frowning, the psychic gave up his investigation and continued moving forward.  
  
Now on edge, he was prepared when the second surprise fell from above. An enormous spider sprang down from the ceiling attached to a web. Silver pulled the glowing stone blocks to him with his power, but before he pummeled the arachnid with them, he noticed something off about the creature. Actually, he noticed a lot of things off: It had glowing purples eyes, a glowing string, and a faint glow over its entire body that reflected the yellow and cyan lights being produced around it.  
  
To confirm his theory, he brought his hands together, bunching up his debris, then shot them as a single cluster at the enemy. If it were a normal spider, it should have been pulverized, but as he expected, a metallic crash was heard, and the robot was sent flying back off of its tether beam.  
  
 **Silver:** "Eggman's robots are here!"  
  
 **Tails:** "Arc found that out already. Eggman's apparently also using this area as a junkyard, so we don't know what they're here for. Let us know if you see anything suspicious."  
  
Another Tarantula attempted to impede his way farther down the hallway. Unfettered, Silver grabbed the returning spike ball and smacked the arachnoid down like a piñata before continuing on his way. He was too busy trying to put together the pieces of this puzzle. The obvious answer would be that Infinite _has_ returned here and these Badniks are under his ownership, just as they were the first time. However, they weren't continuing whatever scorched earth plan they had before, the purpose of which the Resistance still hadn't figured out. That was what was making Silver have second thoughts. And for some reason, he couldn't shake that feeling of familiarity. The thoughts felt like they were creating themselves in his head. _Killing Sonic… the end of the world… a being of unlimited power…_  
  
Well. Those were all consistent with Infinite's reputation. Maybe he was just being paranoid about that monster's possible presence and overthinking things. It was best for him to keep his eye on the prize, so to speak.  
  
The room ahead of him was dark, which he found odd to think of as unusual for old ruins. It had another assortment of stone blocks lying around, but that was all he could really see. Fortunately, he had a trick for moments like this, so he didn't need more than that. He prepped himself into position, his hands now shining brightly in his psychic cyan, and then firmly thrust his right palm into the ground beneath him. A circular sigil shape took form around the contact point, and then the blocks all began to glow and were lifted up into the air.  
  
When he looked back up, he was surprised to see that they were a darker teal rather than matching his power, and the blocks seemed to have organized themselves into lines that were shifting around their centers as if rotating, though without changing their orientations. _This place just keeps getting weirder._  
  
Silver jumped and hovered his way across the blocks to reach another hole in the wall higher up on the far side. It opened up to slanted roof overlooking a larger structure that looked to be in better shape than what he had seen before.  
  
 **Tails:** "Hmm, no sign of the Chaos Emerald around here. It might be closer to the center."  
  
 **Silver:** "Okay."  
  
He climbed down the roof onto a bridge crossing over a river and under the branches of a very large tree. It had strange red zig-zag guard rails but seemed clear of any real hazards. But no later than he had taken a few steps across did yet another spider robot drop down on its line. The hedgehog's first instinct was his Psycho Smash, quickly gathering some energy and knocking it away in a slapping motion. The spider made a ding and was swung up out of sight. Silver wasn't able to see where it went, and he was quite startled when it quickly came back down, in one piece, and swinging right towards him. He fell backwards onto his butt to avoid it as it narrowly missed his head on the ground. For some reason, the Tarantula wasn't reacting in turn, and it just continuing swinging like a pendulum with its legs flailing about.  
  
That was quickly finished as Silver forced it to stop with his psychokinesis. He could see now that the spider's abdomen was a perfect sphere, painted with a white star in the middle on a large blue circle, leaving only a band of red on the outside. Silver motioned to crush it by clenching his hand, but it was somehow sturdy enough to resist the force. Frowning, he let it go and kept moving past it. It wasn't a real threat.  
  
And, as he thought might happen, several more came down on the bridge to get in his way. He simply teleported through the range of each one and continued on his way. The walkway continued past the bridge to a small tower attached to a wall that, surprisingly, was completely unlit. The staircase had crumbled, but it was fairly simple for Silver to hop on a piece of rubble and lift it up high enough for him to reach the top. From up there, he had a rather stunning view of the jungle, illuminated by the full moon and a few smaller neon buildings. In the distance, he could faintly hear some tropical birds cawing. Perhaps this combination of awe and serenity, but also mystery, was why they called it the Mystic Jungle.  
  
 **Tails:** "Something up? It's not like you to sit still for long."  
  
 **Silver:** "Sorry. Got distracted by the scenery. What's the status on our mystery signal?"  
  
 **Tails:** "Nowhere near your area, thankfully. That's about all we know, though."  
  
 **Silver:** "That's all I need to know, for now."  
  
Not far down the road, the wall connected to and passed through a larger building that, once again, was surprisingly unlit. As he entered the archway over the opening to the dark interior, he could see that the same sorts of intricate carvings were present, suggesting that there were originally lights that had since malfunctioned. That was a pretty reasonable thing to happen.  
  
He had second thoughts about that when several dots of red energy were suddenly shot at him from within the darkness. He couldn't pick up lasers with his psychokinesis, so he reactively teleported backwards to the outside. While the culprits inside didn't reveal themselves, three distortions of light appeared around the aperture that soon took the form of blue chameleon-looking robots. All three of them jumped off of the wall, stopping themselves from falling using small rocket engines as they retracted their limbs and transformed into missiles.  
  
Clearly, the Newtrons weren't very smart, because they just provided the stone for him to kill two birds with. Well, missiles, to kill robots… it's an analogy, okay? He could easily take hold of the rocket robots, and he brought them back inside and aimed them at the other chameleons that were now visible through their reflection of his cyan abilities.  
  
And then he was falling. That was the first thing he registered, even before the sound of breaking stone as the floor and walls crumbled around him. It caught him so off-guard that he didn't even think about levitating himself out until he had become entangled in the weight of the falling bricks. The floor was only about a story below, but it also slanted at a sharp angle, and Silver found himself sliding towards a mass of glowing lights. Using his power, he cleared the bricks from his view, just in time to see that he was on another green-glowing bumper and about to fall into an even deeper hole.  
  
Acting on instinct, he forced the bumper to shoot him up… directly into a floating piece of rock that matched the bumper. It didn't hurt, but instead reflected him at a high speed straight down into the pit he had tried to avoid. After getting over his initial shock, Silver caught himself in mid-air so he could situate himself with his surroundings.  
  
He could tell that he was underground, but it took him a moment to figure out why. The chute-like tunnel he was in was well-lit by glowing yellow, green, and now violet tiles all over, but the difference now was a lack of ambient moonlight filtering in through gaps in the stonework.  
  
Slowly, he inched down the incline, keeping his power active on himself to prevent stumbling. It wasn't very taxing if he wasn't actually flying with it. The chute opened up to a larger, more dimly room with a couple of flippers, a hole going still farther down, and several short violet knobs protruding from the walls higher up. Much of the room looked like it was a dark purple, and he guessed that some of it was light reflecting off of the bundles of spiked creepers that snaked up any vertical surfaces they could find.  
  
Silver wasn't sure if what smacked him down here was also a purple thing, but he didn't want to risk it. He let himself slide, redirecting his power to make the bumper sling him into the air. To his relief, he didn't have to stop himself from hitting the knobs, and even better, there was a neon-marked passageway out of the room near the ceiling. He sailed past the hole to the far side of the room, and already he had figured out his path to the exit. Although the ground was more stable, he let himself slide onto a matching flipper to the one he used before. Again he launched himself upwards, and his target was a third flipper located above the first one attached to the wall halfway to the top of the room. Another motion sent him over the knobs and within range to levitate to the tunnel.  
  
Once inside, the lighting blended the purple with blues and a dash of yellow. Several dark orbs were creeping around, visible ironically because of their lack of light compared to their dazzling surroundings. Each one was orbited by smaller orbs that were spiked, like the trap the hedgehog had encountered earlier. He didn't have to go far for the nearest one to notice him and turn his way, revealing two red eyes and an inset part on its bottom that made it appear as if it was permanently scowling angrily. Without any apparent movement on its part, the orbiting spike balls greatly increased in speed, and they began launching one by one at Silver.  
  
The Unidus probably wasn't happy to see its projectiles be effortlessly caught by the psychic's power, and evidently it couldn't stop its attack because soon he had all of them, leaving the main body defenseless. Silver returned the volley with equal ferocity, each hit bashing a crater into it that left it a crumpled scrap heap by the time he was done.  
  
Such open, loud destruction called the attention of the other enemies. The next one in line looked identical to the first, with the exception of its green eyes rather than red. Silver waited for it to throw its spike balls over, but it never did, opting to charge the hedgehog, if it could be called a charge with the middling speed that it could float. Once it got close, he was able to employ his tactic once again, taking control of the spikes even as they orbited the robot's head and using them to implode it.  
  
Number three looked to be a manufacturing error, as it didn't have any satellites. This was quickly remedied as several fireballs sparked to life around it, revealing a crimson body that completed a devilish look to it with its red eyes. Its strategy was a third one yet, as the flaming orbs leveled out to orbit it parallel to the ground and began to expand their pattern into a long oval while spinning quickly. Due to the confines of the corridor, the fireballs couldn't be avoided or jumped over, and since like the lasers, they weren't attached to a physical base, he couldn't steal them with his psychokinesis. _Impressive, for a Badnik,_ he admitted in his head.  
  
The Gohla pressed forward, and Silver had no choice but to retreat. He wasn't bothered, though. Behind him were the corpses of the two other robots, and he lifted the nearest one up and used that as a shield against the fire as he pushed back. The fires dissipated upon touching the wielded chassis; the psychic supposed it made sense that lacking a solid fuel would also make the flames unstable. In any case, he shot the body at the angry-faced robot and knocked them both out of the tunnel before anything else could happen.  
  
When Silver didn't hear a thud from their impact on the floor of the room beyond, he started to become concerned. He jaunted to the end of the tunnel and immediately wished that he had found another escape route. At some point, Sonic had introduced his gray friend to the hobby of pinball (though Silver really wasn't sure why the speedster would enjoy a game that involved standing in one place for a long period of time) and a pinball table was the only way to describe the massive angled wall outfitted with every contraption he had seen thus far in the ruins. It contained several layers of green bumpers, lines of matching small blocks, the round purple blockers, and to top it off – literally, he might add – even the slot machine, with a glowing orange slot above the middle reel that he knew from experience was a place to insert a ball-curled Mobian.  
  
Neon Palace had been far from a highlight (pardon the pun) in Silver's adventures, and he would've been quite happy never to go back to somewhere like that. Despite being a hedgehog, his build was not well-suited for the Spin Dash antics it had involved. However, from the tales of some of the other adventures his friends had been on, encountering another such place was practically inevitable, so there was no point in complaining; he would simply have to take it head on.  
  
He jumped down from the recess onto a plain stone platform that appeared to serve as the base for the megalithic arcade machine. A tunnel lead from there to the launching pad located slightly under the structure in the middle, consisting only of a vertically-aligned purple flipper parallel to a ramp that curved and rose up onto the table. This was going to suck.  
  
Taking a deep breath, Silver cautiously approached the thin device, turning his back to it so he could see where he would be going. Idly, he noted that the ground was somewhat slick; either a highly endurant coating for facilitating launches, or a gross yet fortunate layer of moss. From the very moment the hedgehog's hand made solid contact behind him, he didn't even have time to apply his powers before it swung at a high speed in his direction. Whatever control he planned on having had been lost, so he instinctively curled up into a ball and just had to hope.  
  
Thankfully, the lubricant was still passably functional, and despite the clumsiness of the gray hedgehog's curl, he safely launched up the ramp to the main edifice. With psychokinetic force, he straightened himself out and hovered to the nearest glowing square. Just because he was on the board didn't mean he had to play by the rules, right?  
  
As it turns out, the better answer was yes. Silver's attempted landing on the stone feature was denied when it rebound him like a trampoline, its green glow turning to yellow during the instant of contact. _Yellow, as in caution, like a traffic light. Let's not find out what happens when it hits red,_ he thought. While it may have been intended as an obstacle for a spinning Mobian, it was only a boon to someone like him who could fly.  
  
In this way, he was able to reach a higher-up green flipper than he had anticipated. The upper part of the table was structured around the slots in the center, and above them, the gray hedgehog spotted another opening that traveled back. Unfortunately, the way was impeded by the purple bumpers placed in erratic places, as if the designer didn't want anyone escaping or using the slots. _That's predatory._  
  
Some moments passed, and Silver found himself at a loss for a good solution. He didn't really have time to brute force his way out, but there wasn't much of a choice. Maybe getting smacked around by bumpers would knock some ideas into his head, or something. Taking a deep breath, he centered himself on the flipper and crouched, like a swimmer preparing to dive at a meet. Silver directed his thoughts to press down and felt the change of tilt beneath him. Then, he released.  
  
Try number 1: He apexed right above a bumper, but using it to push him farther up resulted in him soaring to the other side, clearing between the two holes and falling back down to the paired flipper.  
  
Try number 2: Lifting off from higher on the flipper sends him straight into another bumper, reflecting him straight back down. He had to engage his psychokinesis to prevent becoming a hedgehog patty on the flipper.  
  
Try number 3: Going slightly beneath the midpoint gave him some horizontal push (though perhaps it was a mistake on his part?), and he was caught in a volley between the two colinear bumpers above the slots, which he then fell into.  
  
Inside was cramped and dark, and he could _feel_ the ancient machinery spinning out his results. After only a couple of seconds, the bottom opened up and he fell out, quickly putting himself into a hover to travel back to one of the flippers he had used. He allowed himself a glance at the slots, and it was a complete miss. Darn.  
  
Try number 4: Scooching to the very bottom of the flipper maximized his force. He reached the exit with ease, then continued past it before he can react and stop himself. He skimmed on the upper perimeter, which is also coated in the slick substance, and slid down to the first flipper.  
  
With a groan, he repeats his position for try number 5, successfully pulling himself into the exit chamber now that he knew what to expect. The corridor was short, leading into a larger, slanted floor that Silver quickly realized was ruins on the side of a hill. He stepped out into the remains of a room that remained darkly shaded by foliage alongside the partially-intact roof, and he decided he would take a little break after that harrowing room. He had a more immediate priority to fulfill anyway.  
  
 **Silver:** "Come in, Tails?"  
  
 **Tails:** "Silver! Can you read me? Your signal disappeared for a while there."  
  
 **Silver:** "Loud and clear. Some of the ruins collapsed under me, so I accidentally took a detour underground, but I'm okay."  
  
 **Tails:** "Well, thank goodness for that. You had me worried for a moment there. Fortunately, you've moved a lot closer to the Emerald... I think. The signal is unusually diluted, for lack of a better term, like there's some kind of interference preventing it from getting too strong anywhere."  
  
 **Silver:** "Do you think it's the robots' doing?"  
  
 **Tails:** "Not likely… I'd sooner pin it on being in some other building."  
  
 **Silver:** "Alright, I'll see what I can find."  
  
It didn't take long for him to discover a suitable candidate. It looked like a palace, sitting on top of a nearby mountain and surrounded by large ravines separating it from the land around it. There was neon trim on basically every edge, making it simultaneously easy and hard to make out the layout of the structure. It was so conspicuous it might as well have been a giant arrow with writing on it saying, "THERE'S A CHAOS EMERALD HERE!"  
  
The exclusivity of the place was helped by a lack of a discernable bridge, at least in this area. Silver began scanning the area for a potential way to get over. Soon, he found a spherical engraved rock lying in a crater, covered in dirt and… was that ash? It looked familiar. He concentrated his mind and lifted the ball out of the ground. Briefly, he considered riding the stone itself over the gap, but he quickly decided that such a thing would be foolish to try. There was no way he was willing to risk falling off of that, and he doubted he even had enough energy to make it all the way across while schlepping such a massive object. The psychic was through with gambling games for the day, and that's saying something when the sun technically hadn't risen yet here.  
  
After some more searching, he found another pillar with a glowing top. A faded dirt path and rotted wood post made it seem that, once upon a time, it was a guidepost for those travelling to the temple. With his hand, he remotely directed his stone sphere to run over the pillar, knocking it down like a bowling pin into the mud, facing the mountain. As before, he pushed the pillar back and allowed it to sling him high and far enough that he could levitate himself to the structure.  
  
Once inside, the hedgehog was able to take in the design of the place. It wasn't as grand as he had imagined, consisting of a straight hallway attached to some side rooms, most of which had caved in at least partially. At the end of the hallway was a small arched doorway leading into a room that produced enough yellow light that it was as indiscernible as if it were dark.  
  
Shielding his eyes, Silver entered the room and let out a sigh of relief he didn't know he was holding. The room was circular, with small, wide steps circling around a central dais on either side. Neon yellow trim bordered the floor and each layer of wall, all centered around the dais. They all drew attention to the shining yellow gem floating in place as the centerpiece of the temple, its light resonating with that of the walls to create the feeling of an eternal twilight.  
  
 **Silver:** "Chaos Emerald, confirmed. This place looks like it was _built_ to hold one."  
  
 **Tails:** "Maybe it was. It reminds me of how Sonic described the Temples of Gaia, which were absolutely built for that purpose. There's one not too far from here, relatively speaking. Could be the same people."  
  
Silver pocketed the gem in his quills, dimming the room into a faint yellow glow, as if its star had been plucked from the sky.  
  
 **Silver:** "How's Arc doing? Is it safe to rendezvous with her?"  
  
 **Tails:** "She's almost at her target. I'll route the shuttle to pick you up now and then stand by near her location, just in case she needs backup or a quick getaway."  
  
 **Silver:** "Good idea! I'll be waiting."


	14. Stage 13: Aqua Road – Mystic Jungle

Arc struggled to maintain a swift pace in the undergrowth of the rainforest. She was a city girl, through and through; as much as she enjoyed the descriptor of urban jungle for the endless expanse of Empire City, she couldn't see the comparison now that she was experiencing a natural jungle for herself. Cities didn't have overgrown roots and big-leafed foliage and consistently uneven terrain to mess up your walking, and buildings didn't have sporadic messes of branches and leaves to make climbing and jumping just as hard. The sidewalks weren't mushy and encumbering, and the streets were carefully planned to avoid being labyrinthine.

When she romped around her awesome city, all she had to concern herself with was her skill. How far she could jump, how high she could climb walls, how fast she could go. Those were the joys of freerunning, not pulling out all of her tricks just to reach her end destination to begin with.

It delighted her for the route on her communicator to take her to some ruins built into a hillside. She was stunned at how these old stones could glow, and much enjoyed that whoever built them picked bright colors to lighten the place up, literally. In a way, it reminded her of the way that the city was never truly dark at night thanks to all of the lights from streetlamps and rooms from houses and skyscrapers. Props to the ancient dudes for having that same sense of beauty.

She was taken aback by what she found on the other side of the town, though. A cave, illuminated by a similar sort of rock, took her through the hillside to the back of a raging waterfall that covered the other exit.

 **Arc:** "There's a big waterfall here, you sure this is right?"

 **Knuckles:** "Yes."

 **Arc:** "And you expect me to go through it."

 **Knuckles:** "Uhh… yeah. It forms some kind of water road that cuts through the jungle. I went and got Amy, she's better at this sort of thing."

 **Amy:** "Yes, because apparently you thought it was a good idea to send our agents across the ocean without consulting me, when you don't even know how to run the mission."

 **Knuckles:** "You can't deny how strange it is that we picked up those two readings! If it's not a Chaos Emerald, then what is it?"

 **Amy:** "If it's an enemy, taking it on might be a big ask for Arc. If it's Infinite, it's practically suicide!"

 **Knuckles:** "Look, it's too late to turn back now. Let's inspire our rookie to do her best rather than freak her out."

 **Arc:** "Amy, it's NBD. We gotta do what we gotta do. Can't leave it up to chance, y'know?"

 **Amy:** "… fine. Yes, your route takes you through the waterfall. It's an aqueduct system, which means it's elevated and will be faster going downstream than you could manage on foot."

 **Arc:** "Cool. Guess all that's left to say is Geronimo!"

She took off at top speed, not letting the roaring, rushing cascade instill fear into her. Closing her eyes and holding her Wispon close, she launched in her strongest leap to dive through the waterfall. Despite her courage, physics had other plans, and her attempt quickly became a plunge as she was sucked down into some sort of strong horizontal pull with a less-than-pleasant hard ground beneath it.

Coughing and hacking, Arc tried to stabilize herself and regain her bearings. She was able to orient herself on her back with her feet downflow and wiped the water from her eyes to see where she had ended up. This "aqueduct" looked like an extended halfpipe one might use for snowboarding, or in this case surfing, due to the thick coating of water across the whole surface of the tube.

 **Amy:** "Wow! That current is pretty strong! The satellite imagery didn't do it justice."

 **Arc:** "This place is enough to make me dizzy."

 **Amy:** "It might be better just to go with the flow, even though it's slower than running."

 **Arc:** "You're telling me. How's this communication device even still working after getting all wet like that?"

 **Knuckles:** "It's the power of modern technology! And also Tails. He's been making waterproof stuff for years now, ever since I took a dive into an aquatic mine and accidentally lost touch."

Arc's enjoyment of the conversation was interrupted by several splashes. She looked around as much as she could, but she couldn't spot the sources until they nearly collided with her. She skittered to the side gracelessly to avoid several red chunks of stuff, and once she had control again, she saw that they were ladybug-shaped robots, with red shells and baby-blue faces that weren't ladybug-like at all. They were flipped onto their backs with singular wheels pointed up in the air.

Arc: "Guys, what are these things? They look like Eggman's work."

Knuckles: "Those are Moto Bugs! They're Eggman's, for sure, but they look destroyed. Do you think they were left behind from the last raid?"

Amy: "They're surprisingly… colorful, compared to what Eggman's been deploying in the war. Older models, maybe?"

Knuckles: "But what are they doing here? Maybe Tails can uncover some more info…"

Although it was hard to spot details while traveling in the swift current, the lynx could see that the aqueduct split into two ahead. Without any specific input from the others, she shifted her weight to move onto the smaller of the two routes, while the Motobug corpses drifted naturally onto the larger one.

However, her ears soon perked in alert to a launching sound, which was followed by more of the robots flying out from somewhere behind her and landing roughly onto the road ahead. These ones didn't pick up the current so well, and she shifted her weight to try and swerve around each one as she caught up to it. It was harder than it looked, and more than once she almost careened off the side of the waterway from either overcorrection or the force from pushing one of the lumps of junk away from her.

Something was suspicious about how in-the-way these robots were. Either Eggman had an ongoing presence here to generate all this scrap, or something was triggering it as a trap for whoever attempted to ride on the aqueduct. Any way you looked at it, there was something here that he went through a lot of trouble to make hard to find.

As it neared a steep-looking cliff, the ancient system had a break in it that caused the path to enter a sharp decline towards the water rather than connect across the top. Readying the chain in her Wispon, Arc eyed a sturdy-looking tree branch overhead and shot at it, using it to swing onto solid ground atop the cliff. She paused to let the vertigo from the water ride wear off while checking her surroundings. The night was clear, moonlight beaming through the clouds to illuminate the surroundings in place of the glowing ruins.

Off to the left, it was clear why there weren't any such ruins, as a much larger building had toppled to pieces and was now overgrown with purple vines and creepers. Impressively, some of them were large and strong enough to hold pieces of the stonework above the ground, which suggested they had been growing there for some time before the building collapse. Either the plants were ancient, or the destruction was recent. Or both; did she look an archaeologist or a botanist to you?

What the lynx _did_ know is that the robots she could see farther up the road spelled bad news. They looked like the destroyed Moto Bugs from earlier, only minus the destroyed part, and also the colorful part, for that matter. They were simple gray spheres, but with a black visor with two glowing red eyes under a red line, and cyan circles on their left and right ends. Basically, they looked like any other fully operational Badnik.

 **Arc:** "Hey, now the Moto Bugs are completely normal. You sure there's nothing going on here?"

 **Amy:** "Tails says Silver is reporting some robots of his own. We have no clue what their objective is, though. They seem to be hanging around on their own."

 **Knuckles:** "Which means they're most definitely _not_ doing that! Eggman wouldn't just leave a legion of robots lying around with nothing to do!"

 **Amy:** "Let's not jump to conclusions. We don't even know what they were here for before, or what that mystery signal could be doing to them."

Arc tuned out their conversation. Whatever the reason was, it couldn't be anything good, so she ran forward and destroyed them with an electrified flick of her Lightning Wispon. The buzzing sound of the electricity didn't seem to fade after she was done, though. She opened the clasp over the lid to see if maybe it was malfunctioning, and _that's_ when she got attacked for real.

Her instincts kicking in, she ducked forward into a slide across the damp ground. The position it put her in allowed her to pivot around quickly, which was also a great way to activate her whip. However, it cracked into empty air, though she could now see numerous floating red dots that indicated her ambushers.

That was, basically, all they were: Two large red eyes attached to a small body in the shape of a small hook, both ends pointed down. They flew without any discernable wings or jets, but despite that, they were rather fast and very agile. It took some effort to dance through their repeated dives, and she was never able to get more than one at a time with strikes of the Wispon.

Eventually the Buggernauts were all gone, but she still felt on edge. Her eyes were shining and her mind was flying. _It feels like… there's something nearby,_ she thought while peering around warily. Her head snapped to the top of a taller cliff nearby, where she swore she saw the glint of something in the moonlight. But there was nothing there.

_What's this lunacy?_

She still couldn't shake the feeling of being watched as she ascended to the higher cliff using her chain. From up there, she saw another section of aqueduct, albeit narrow, travelling further into the jungle. Mustering her inner determination, she plunged back into the stream, ready for whatever came her way.

 **Knuckles:** "Well look at you, rookie. Having fun in the water?"

 **Amy:** "What? Jealous you can't play on the slide, Knuckles?"

 **Knuckles:** "This is no time to lose focus, that's all! Uh, be sure to give it all you got!"

Her slide was soon accompanied by another that filtered in from the right, and the two quickly became an entangled weave as each one took on its own winding path full of curves and dips. Wanting to get a better view, Arc was able to shift her weight to splash off the side of her slide, acrobatically performing a flip in the air to retain her velocity to land on the other slide. From there, she spotted a tree branch growing out of the side of the cliff and again used it as a grapple point for the Wispon's chain. She swung up and over it to land on a skinny piece of land sticking up from the jungle around it, quickly spotting yet another type of robot ahead of her.

This one looked like a mantis, the recurring theme of red eyes looking particularly menacing on its sleek body and two large scythe-like appendages that were actual blades. It motioned to slash at her, and the two blades detached from its body to become spinning projectiles of death. Like before, she slid under them, but she had enough push this time to slide directly into the Slicer, performing a leg sweep for good measure to topple it over the side of the cliff.

 _Getting covered in mud, another thing I don't care for about nature,_ she griped now that her mind wasn't preoccupied. Fortunately, the cliff ended in front of a third road, and when she hopped in, most of the mud was cleaned off of her by the current. Its route made it feel like a real slide, as it dove down and then went in a clockwise loop before converging with the other two near the ocean.

That was to be their final stop, it seemed, so once again she exited the ride by pulling herself out using her chain. She used several old pillars that stuck out from the water as a set of swings to get across to the dry land on the other side.

 **Amy:** "The reading is really close now. Silver just claimed the Chaos Emerald, and he'll meet up with you soon as reinforcements."

To avoid revealing her location, Arc simply hummed in agreement as she carefully climbed up to the clearing ahead.

* * *

There was definitely something off about the barren patch of land nestled against the face of a cliff. It was unusually dark, for one, being at just the right angle that the base of the cliff was always shrouded from the moon. Well, at least that made it a good place to hide until she could confirm what the mystery signal was.

"Have we met before?" a female, country-sounding voice called from somewhere before she had covered even half the distance.

 _So much for that,_ the cat mentally complained. A figure emerged from the shadows on the left, revealing herself to be a violet Mobian with a black coat and pants appropriate for travel, along with a wide-brimmed black hat. She wore leather gloves and hiking boots that were a darker purple.

 **Amy:** "The mystery signal is coming from her! I'm positive of it!"

"Not unless you were also jailed by Eggman aboard the Death Egg. I'm here looking for something that may belong to him, do you know anything about it? I hear it's _really_ close by."

The mysterious woman immediately leered at her, and her hands defensively covered the pockets on her coat, almost as if she was prepping for a quick draw. Too easy.

"What's it to ya?"

Arc was about to give a quippy answer, but her senses went on full alert yet again. This time, the threat was real: A scrapped pile of metal and spikes shot down from over the top of the cliff right at her. She barely dodged it, landing roughly on the ground before springing back to her feet.

The action confirmed that those Moto Bugs on the aqueduct were no coincidence, and whoever was responsible was making themselves known. A third Mobian walked to the edge of the cliff, silhouetted against the moonlight all around. It hoisted a gun of some kind with its right hand, albeit a strange one with an enormous, bulbous barrel. Without hesitation, it leapt down from the cliff right towards Arc, firing a wispy blast the weapon with a piston-like sound. The lynx obviously didn't stay where she was to find out what it had shot, but it became apparent anyway as she felt a breeze coming from the blast.

Arc went straight to the purple Mobian, picking up her in a bridal carry and leaping to the edge of the clearing to dodge another blast. She placed her down and stood protectively in front, electricity crackling from her Wispon as her pursuer stared her down. It was a canine with green skin, body armor, and a muzzle-like gas mask over its snout, plus a one-eyed visor and a pair of goggles.

"You… I know who you are," she spoke to the other one. "You look just like Ledge described."

"Correct," the wolf replied, her voice distorted by the mask. "I am the Alpha. I assume he also told you what I want." she continued threateningly, raising her weapon to point it at her. "Hand over that Wispon before I have to hurt you to get it."

"In your dreams, apocalypse reject," Arc spat. She whipped out her chain, the attack but a flash of lightning, but the Alpha ducked it effortlessly and launched towards her. Arc didn't expect that and got tackled flat on her back, with the Alpha on top of her.

Not one to accept defeat so easily, she attempted to shock her assailant by stabbing her with the Wispon itself. However, the Alpha used her own Wispon to parry it, shifting her position to try and pry the weapon from the cat's paw with her other hand. Arc continued to struggle against her hold, but it was no use. Whoever this girl was, it was obvious that she was a professional at this.

However, she stopped, as both of them were alerted to another sound, a droning that the striped cat recognized. Eggman's shuttle, occupied by Silver of course, had appeared over the treetops and was making its landing in the clearing. The shuttle bay opened before it even reached the ground, and said hedgehog jumped out while glowing with power.

It was the Alpha's turn to leap away, as the psychic made a three-point landing that released an electric shockwave from the palm that hit the ground. It didn't affect Arc somehow, which she was grateful for as it gave her the chance to recover. The Alpha took one look at the two of them and immediately grabbed something from her pocket and jammed it into her Wispon.

"Blasted hedgehogs, getting in my way! Soon enough I'll catch one of you on your lonesome, and the Wispons _will_ be mine."

She pointed the weapon straight up, and the three tripod legs began spinning in a circle and emitting a green glow. It lifted her into the air, rising past the trees and the cliff and travelling away into the night sky.

"… well, that was dramatic," Silver commented. "Are you okay?"

"Nothing that won't heal, except maybe my pride. I'm more worried about the mystery signal. It was a Mobian girl, and she…" she looked around, noticing that the purple one had disappeared. "… escaped."

"No, I'm right here," the country voice corrected from the direction of the woods. Arc still didn't see any sign of the voice's source, until she dropped out from a tree right in front of the cat's face, startling her.

"Woah! How'd you do that?"

"I know the ins and outs of the jungle, is how. Been living here a long time, protecting these lands from loggers and other destroyers of nature, until Eggman made a home here." she explained. "But where are my manners? I think a proper introduction is in order. Flora the Porcupine, pleasure to make your acquaintance," she said with a slight bow and tip of her hat. Now that she had given her species, Arc did notice a lot of short spines along the back of her head. How they didn't poke through that big hat was beyond her, though.

"My name is Arc. Arc the Lynx."

"And I'm Silver the Hedgehog! I don't mean to cut the courtesy short, but what do you mean by Eggman making a home here?"

Flora walked over to the base of the cliff. Silver nodded and glowed cyan with his power to provide light. Next to the spiky Mobian was a metal hatch embedded into the cliff, resembling the entrance to a high-security vault.

"This. He has many of these secret rooms scattered around the jungle, and he fortified them very strongly. I spent months picking off his robots to try and find a way in, but then he left as suddenly and mysteriously as he had arrived, right before the war started. Then, about a week ago, he came back to cover his tracks, by burning the whole place to the ground. I believe you were there for that."

" _He_ was," Arc answered, somewhat bitterly.

Silver gave her a short, quizzical look. "It's good that we understand why now, because it didn't make any sense before," he added.

"There's a little more to it than that, though…"

She reached inside her pocket and pulled out a strangely-shaped gem. It had around twenty faces to it, but every one was curved outwards, with all of the vertices sticking out. It was a maroon-ish color, with darker purple stripes carved through the inside that hurt to look at. Both of the Resistance members stared it.

"I don't know what this thing is, but it must be of value to Eggman. His attacks must've been targeting those secret rooms, because inside one is where I found this. That was actually right where you fought the Red Mask. I reckon he was after it too."

"It reminds me of Infinite himself, a bit…" Silver wondered. "We should get it back to Tails. He'll be able to figure out what it can do," he proposed, gesturing towards the shuttle. "That is, if you're willing to come with us."

Flora looked around. "Well, this is my home, but… if you think this gem can help bring about global peace from Eggman, then that's more important. I'll go with you."

 _Odd choice of words,_ Arc noted. As they began their return to the shuttle, she nudged the porcupine on the shoulder.

"Yo, Flora, was it? I just gotta say, sneaking into Eggman's base and stealing that thing? Pretty cool." She offered her closed fist up, but Flora looked confused.

"Uh, thanks, but… what are you doing with your hand?"

"Aw, c'mon, it's for a fist bump! You make a fist too, and we bump them together!"

"Okay, I guess…" She awkwardly pressed her gloved fist against the black-and-yellow one. Arc beamed; it was good enough for her!


	15. Stage 14: Sunset Heights – City

**Eggman Industries**   
**Project 1107**   
**Codename: Prism**

**File:** Color and Nega Energies

The Triangle of Energy

Color Energy and Nega Energy form a triad of sorts with Chaos Energy. While Chaos Energy is connected to life, creation, and destruction as a whole, Color Energy embodies the power of emotion and manipulation of the physical elements of the world, and Nega Energy manifests the abstract like ideas and thoughts that have no tangible form.

Both Color and Nega Energies are ultimately subservient to Chaos Energy, as their realms of power are both encompassed by the unbound force that is life. The Wisp species appears to be adapted or formed from these two energies in the same way that the Chao are from Chaos Energy. While the large majority of Wisps I have encountered are naturally aligned with Color Energy, when drained of energy, they convert into a form that draws on Nega Energy, as described in the files on Wisps [system error: directory not found]. The Black Wisp and Jade Wisp appear to be naturally aligned with Nega Energy, but both are exceedingly rare and in-depth study has yet to occur.

Ledge's golden eyes shifted back and forth between Eggman's research documents and his schematics of the Wispon prototypes. Well, one prototype in particular. The mechanics of the normal Wispons were practically solved by now: The Asteroid Wispon had just reached completion, and the Drill Wispon was already in production thanks to the powerful machines at his disposal in the Arsenal Pyramid. He saw no immediate need to produce the Hover Wispon, since a cursory glance at the file was all that was needed to identify it as the one currently in the hands of the Alpha.

No, his objective lied in the seventh and last prototype was a puzzle in a league of its own from the others. Its blueprints weren't even completed – a mystery all by itself. Why would Eggman, of all people, give up on a revolutionary project such as this? The Cardinal had not yet finished reading the entire folder of research, but even from the paragraphs like those on his screen, the potential of harvesting such fundamental energies was… infinite. Eggman seemed to have dedicated his career to their study, and some of that may have been inherited from the similarly crazed Gerald Robotnik.

He was certain that they still lacked all of the pieces in the story behind the war, potentially entire layers' worth of them. Arc's encounter with the Alpha definitely spawned more questions than it did answers. The wolf clearly knew about Eggman's base there in advance, yet she cared not even a little for what lied inside. If she knew about the mysterious gem that this Flora woman pilfered from it, she showed no regard for it either. Her one and only mission was the Wispons, for reasons that were still unknown to the Resistance.

An incoming transmission was alerted to him on the communications console, which he had _not_ disabled this time, after the complaints that occurred prior.

 **Amy:** "Ledge, we need you to join us in HQ for a meeting. You'll be picked up by Silver and Arc's shuttle on their way in. Capische?"

 **Ledge:** "I could use some respite from my current project anyway. And I have a new Wispon for you."

* * *

Amy was the only one remaining in the brick room that served as the Resistance HQ, where she was typing diligently at the computer. She had ordered Tails and Knuckles straight to bed once Silver and Arc had confirmed that their shuttle was safely on its return trip, despite protests from the former about improving their patch job on the Emerald radar and from the latter about being the actual authority in the room.

They quickly shut up once the Piko Piko Hammer entered the conversation.

Since she had already been awakened, she figured she could use the unexpected time in a productive manner, catching up on documenting their inventory and other administrative tasks necessary to keeping the City functional for its refugees.

Unfortunately, the pink hedgehog wasn't able to finish before she received a notification on the screen, informing her of an incoming call. Its location of origin was the town of Shamar, which made it a higher priority than almost anything else. Although Shamar had been occupied by Eggman early on due to its proximity to his stronghold in Metropolis, the citizens were not so easily dismayed, likely due to how Sonic had helped them in the past. They continued to resist in whichever ways they could: for the Resistance, this came in the form of sheltering their spy and her transport whenever she was making another pass into the belly of the beast.

That meant the sender of this transmission was either Rouge the Bat with information, or someone from the town in need of something, and they could not afford to turn that down and potentially lose such a critical asset. Opening the call revealed the white-furred agent was safe and sound, though with a look of great concern. Rouge was usually pretty suave and kept her composure, so this must be something serious.

 **Amy:** "Rouge, it's good to see you in one piece! There's a lot of good news on our end since we last spoke, but it looks like you have something more pressing to share, so let's cut to the chase."

 **Rouge:** "I see your intuition is as sharp as always, pinky. I picked up a transmission between Eggman and the Red Mask, and they've hatched some plan that they seem certain will destroy us all. I couldn't find any specifics on the plan itself, but I noticed a trend in Eggman's other agendas. They all seem to pivot around something that he expects to happen in three days. I'm willing to bet that he intends to put his plan into action then."

 **Amy:** "Three days?! Are you kidding me?!"

 **Rouge:** "A lot can happen in three days, but we need to plot our next steps very carefully. What will you have me do?"

 **Amy:** "I think… you should return to HQ. We're going to need every brain we have stewing in this pot. There are already a few people we're waiting on to finish other matters right now, so it won't hurt to add one more and then figure things out with everyone in-person."

 **Rouge:** "Copy that. This bat is coming home to roost."

* * *

A few hours later, most of the main faces were gathered in the same room. Rouge wasn't due in for a little while longer, and Boar had been permitted to skip since his work was separate from missions and so someone could keep an eye on the rest of the City. In center stage were Silver and Flora, the latter of whom did not look comfortable with the attention, and both were holding their powerful gems. While the aura of the yellow Chaos Emerald was just as awesome as the blue one, the same could not be said of the strange gem. The feeling it gave off was nothing short of unsettling.

"So, first things first," Amy announced. "While our analysis isn't exactly thorough, and there weren't many settlements to conquer to begin with, I feel comfortable saying that Eggman no longer has any operations active in the Mystic Jungle. We can consider the continent relatively free of his influence, and that's a win for us."

There was a slight round of applause as Tails stepped up to speak.

"With a second Chaos Emerald in our possession, I should be able to upgrade our radar to find the others much more efficiently. There's also this… other gem, which I hope to be able to reverse engineer so we can use it against Eggman. Of course, this means I will be stepping back from field operations for the time being."

"However, we also have a new addition to our team!" Amy continued. "Everyone, meet Flora the Porcupine."

The ranger gave a bashful wave. "Howdy, y'all. It's really not that big of a deal. I'm not much of a front-lines fighter, I just want everyone to be able to live freely, y'know? I'm dedicated to fighting Eggman however I can, but that don't mean much when all I have is this whip."

"Well, aren't you in luck, then," Ledge interceded. Without waiting for permission, he walked up to the front where Flora was, carrying a large purple device. It was practically a sphere, made out of two indigo domes connected with black bands. Some sort of lens was attached to the front half, and a handle was cut into the back half to allow it to be held. Remarkably, a yellow ring circled at an angle to the bands without being physically attached to the device.

"This is the Asteroid Wispon. If you have any skill in shooting, you should find it an ingenious weapon against Eggman's robots. It can auto-target and destroy groups of individual robots simultaneously. And with this power-up," he explained, pulling out a matching indigo capsule, "you can protect yourself with a shield that absorbs any matter it contacts, increasing its size and strength while also providing you with limited levitation ability."

"Oh, that's… thanks," Flora responded, unsure of what to say about it or what to think of the peculiar Mobian that had gifted it to her.

"There is one other piece of news I must share," Amy said, refocusing the meeting. "Rouge called in. The good news is she's safe. The bad news is Eggman has a plan that, when completed, will wipe us all out. In three days."

Knuckles placed one of his massive hands up to his chin. "I don't like the sound of that. Normally, I'd just laugh at an Eggman plan, but he's already conquered most of the world, so… what's this plan of his?"

Unexpectedly, the main monitor turned a menacing red, flashing the emergency alert at them as the alarms outside began to blare. Only a moment later, the automatic door to the headquarters opened, and Boar nearly forced his way through the opening before it had even finished. Given his strength and the powerful Wispon at his disposal, he quite possibly could remove the 'nearly' if he so desired. The look of distress on his face suggested he had needed to put some effort into not doing so.

"Sirs and ma'ams! I hate to interrupt your important meeting, but we're under attack! Along with a robot army, a black hedgehog is tearing through our troops! We need reinforcements!"

"Shadow…" Sonic growled, beginning to pace around the room. "So he's still fighting for Eggman."

"It still doesn't make sense to me. Why would Shadow _help_ the enemy?" Knuckles stressed.

"He's got to be controlled by Infinite's strange power," Silver said, reminding them of their previous conversation. "What else could it be?"

"Whatever it is, _I'll_ figure it out," Sonic vowed.

* * *

While the bulk of the group took to the docks area to fight the robots, Sonic decided on a separate route through Sunset Heights. As the name suggested, it was farther up from shore on the sloped hills, and that also made it the City's suburbs where nicer houses and, more relevantly, larger roads were. The Star Light Zone, which was farther out still, outclassed it in both space and wealth, but if he went too far from the city center, he'd miss out on finding his target. The Heights offered a compromise between speed and action.

As the blue hedgehog ran along a ridgeline road overlooking the lower levels, the usually beautiful view instead offered him a panorama of war, with flashes from friendly Wispons and steel enemies pockmarking most of the urban expanse like fireworks. In the distance, he could see several specks that were his flying friends combatting a handful of giant Death Egg Robots. Since the previous battle ended with just two of them, this was quite concerning.

 **Vector:** "What the heck?! A whole army of Death Egg Robots?!"

 **Charmy:** "Oh no! There are so many of them!"

 **Silver:** "Hurry, Sonic! We're going to need your help. We can keep them in check, but not for long."

 **Sonic:** "I'll find Shadow and be back in no time!"

He vaulted up several flights of stairs, but quickly encountered obstacles once he reached the top. The road had been blocked with caltrops and barricades, and for good measure, several Egg Pawns bearing shields had also taken up residence. It made sense, thinking about some of Knuckles' strategy talks that he had half-listened to. Something about elevation being a good asset in battle and that being why they hadn't been able to claim the upper areas of the City without the firepower they now possessed.

 _Guess it's time for some clean-up!_ he thought with a smile. No slowing down now! Approaching the first line of defenses, he turned onto his side, as if laying down, and spun with his feet stretched out. In a quick Spin Kick, he swept away the spikes and broke the barriers without breaking a sweat.

The Egg Knights noticed his dynamic entry, but it mattered not. Another Spin Kick toppled the first one; he didn't bother checking to see if it survived. He was beginning to lose some speed from friction, which didn't really like him spinning on his side like that instead of running, so he switched up his tactic. He ran dead-on at the second one but tucked at the last second into a Somersault to slip beneath its shield and break it open like the egg it was. Calling on his inner power, he jumped and whipped up a spontaneous wind that he directed towards the third one, which had finally began shooting at him. It too was knocked over by the blast from his Air Kick.

When he hit the ground, he took off with his Boost, blowing away most of the hazards that remained. He continued inland down the boulevard to a roundabout with a ruined fountain, its once-pleasant display now a mindless geyser of water that coated the road around it with a film of water.

 **Knuckles:** "Come on, seriously?! How did they get this many Death Egg Robots?"

 **Vector:** "I'm not usually one to complain, but this is a lot! Way more than we can reasonably take on!"

 **Boar:** "Never give up! We took one of these titans down last time and we can do it again! However many times it takes, we will emerge victorious!"

Sonic smiled. _That's the kind of spirit I like to see._ Along with the fountain, it reminded him of Chaos's attack on Station Square. It was the first time Eggman's plans plowed into a major population center, and the people put their faith in him to stop the rampaging water monster despite having no idea who he was. The Resistance needed to keep that faith in each other, and he admired the optimism that their new friends had within them.

 **Amy:** "Listen up! Shadow's been sighted! Apparently he's travelling above the city center at high speed!"

 **Espio:** "He's likely looking for our headquarters. Sonic, you know what to do."

The Blue Blur was already doing it. Using his Boost, he sped down the road on the other side of the roundabout, using the embankment as it curved around down a hill as a launching ramp to go flying through the air. He rolled smoothly onto the rooftops and began bounding over them in search of his darker lookalike.

It took a very short amount of time for him to get the spotlight, or rather, several of them, as several flying Egg Pawns equipped with searchlights spotted him. Although he wished to ignore them, as he could outrun any Badnik with little issue, the reinforcements that were called carried guns or were covered in giant spikes that he had to be wary of. Reluctantly, he slowed down to fight them.

The enemies' strategy was disappointingly simple: The Needle Flappers got in his face, and the Gun Flappers floated at a distance and peppered him with bullets. That is, they would have, if they had gotten that far. While Tails and Knuckles weren't with him to fight these models like the first time around, he had also grown stronger since then and was just fine without their help.

As the robots closed in on him, he met their advance by curling up and spinning in a tight circle. From it sprung a large blue whirlwind that swept up all of the spiked foes and tossed them to the ground. They were all left vulnerable to a Homing Chain that left them as piles of parts, and the Gun Flappers were easy pickings after that point.

Sonic dusted his hands off really quickly in mockery of that attack. Already, he could see more of Eggman's forces coming in for backup. How cute, thinking they could ever catch him! He clambered over to and up the tallest standing building he could find. Looking for Shadow was one thing, but the more robots he could get on his tail instead of those of civilians or the Death Egg Robot combaters, the better.

Luck was on his side, though, as he spotted a black speck moving very quickly in the distance.

 **Sonic:** "I spotted Shadow just up ahead. How are you all holding up?"

 **Tails:** "We've hit a stalemate, which is… better than we expected."

 **Arc:** "I think we can get one down if we push for it!"

 **Sonic:** "Great! Best of luck to the both of us, then!"

He hopped on a nearby power line that was clearly non-functional and grinded down it to the level rooftops to continue his pursuit. Shadow didn't notice him, and as he got closer, it did appear that he was searching for a particular building. The black hedgehog dropped to street level, and Sonic decided that this was his chance, jumping down to the ground after him.

* * *

"Alright, Shadow, what's the deal?" Sonic called, staring down the Ultimate Lifeform from a few blocks up the street.

Shadow stopped what he was doing and turned to face Sonic, but didn't act. He crossed his arms, as he tends to do, and simply waited.

Now peeved, Sonic began to run at him. "Say something, you traitor!"

That insult put the other hedgehog in motion, a hideous scowl appearing instantly on his face. Three-fourths of the distance between them was closed before, somehow without moving his lips, he finally uttered something.

"Chaos Control!"

Even having used the technique himself and knowing that time had been slowed, Sonic could barely perceive the motion that happened next. A black blur crossed his vision, and suddenly there were two Shadows that split to either side of him. He skidded to a stop and turned around to see the one on his now-left land on his feet, while the other tumbled to the ground farther away.

" _Another_ Shadow?!"

"That's a fake," the standing Shadow responded curtly.

"How do I know _you're_ not the fake, Faker?"

"Because if I wanted you dead, you would be." As proof, he held up his right hand to reveal a royal purple glow, so majestic to the average viewer that it could only be sourced from a Chaos Emerald. "Are we fighting this _thing_ or not?"

Already, the other Shadow had stood, his fur reddening as an indication of his anger.

"Fine. Let's make this quick."

Sonic Boosted forward, forcing the opposing Shadow to activate his own Chaos Boost to match. At the last moment, Sonic de-activated his aura and quick-stepped to the side, already beginning to turn around as the yellow-and-red streak had to stop his own to avoid crashing into a building behind him.

This left his guard down for the allied Shadow to deliver a strong roundhouse kick directly to his double's abdomen, winding him and knocking him to the ground again between the other two hedgehogs. Sonic was on him in a heartbeat and began running circles around him. Not for show… well, not _just_ for show, as he whipped up another Sonic Wind to pull his opponent into the air.

Without missing a beat, Shadow #2 teleported into the eye of the storm, just above #1's hurled body. He stomped the other right back down and then drew himself in tight. The blue whirlwind imploded onto him as he glowed bright red, combining their powers, before he released it in a shining explosion so strong it released shockwaves that hit the surrounding buildings. The force caused varying amounts of crumbling from the buildings that had already lost their integrity. Small bolts of plasma radiated out from the growing sphere, which started to eat a crater into the pavement and send bits of it flying everywhere.

When the Atomic Blast dissipated and the area was safe for viewing again, only one black hedgehog remained. Sonic believed Shadow's words then, because no real Ultimate Lifeform would be disintegrated by an attack even that strong. I mean, the guy survived _re-entry_ , and that was _after_ draining his energy with a Super transformation. This was nothing to him.

Cautiously, Sonic approached the definitely real Shadow as he dropped to the ground and stood up. "A fake… but how?"

"Take me to your little 'Resistance' movement. I'm only explaining this once."

The blue hedgehog gave a mischievous grin. "Alright… race ya!" he teased, immediately taking off in the direction of Headquarters. It neglected the plan of helping the others with the Death Egg Robots, but bringing Shadow to them in the middle of this situation would probably cause more problems than it would solve.

Behind him, Shadow clenched his fists, but relaxed them after only a moment. As much as that hedgehog's carefree attitude and cheerfulness during serious times like this pissed him off, he was also annoyingly good at sharing that cheer with others to prevent them from falling into despair… even with Shadow himself.

 _Six months under Eggman's thumb certainly didn't break his spirit,_ Shadow thought as he activated his skates and chased after his rival. _Good. I expected nothing less._

* * *

Only a few minutes passed in between Sonic and Shadow's arrival to HQ and everyone else's. They all looked beat, as they should from fighting off an invasion like that one. They weren't able to destroy any of the Death Egg Robots, but they successfully forced back the attackers for the time being. All Sonic had told them was that their assumptions about Shadow were wrong, and that he was safely retrieved and would be waiting for them once they got back.

When they entered, they kept a safe distance from him, particularly the weapon-holding ones that Shadow had never seen before. At least someone finally had the sense to carry arms, even if they looked like toys.

"Who are they?" he asked, pointing at the four rookies, who shifted uncomfortably at his piercing look.

"You first, Shadow," Knuckles said fiercely, looking right at him. "You have a lot to answer for."

Once again, Shadow procured his Chaos Emerald as a display of power, causing the others to gasp. He began to walk around the room.

"The enemy that has been fighting at Eggman's side all of this time… is a mere copy of Shadow the Hedgehog, courtesy of Infinite."

"What?!" exclaimed several of them.

"Infinite can create virtual reality projections. They have mass and form, but no mind of their own."

"Virtual reality?" Sonic inquired. "So all of those familiar faces that are leading Eggman's army…"

"Replicas. The problem is, they may not be real, but their powers are as formidable as the originals."

They were interrupted by the automatic door once again, and their last ally flew in and froze when she saw the new Mobian among them.

"SHADOW!" Rouge exclaimed, picking up her feet and flying straight to him. She embraced him in a hug that he tried his best to squirm out of, to no avail.

"Rouge…" he murmured, sounding annoyed.

The bat released him from her body but kept him at arm's length. "I was so worried! We all thought you were…"

He pushed her back so she would stop touching him. "Hmph. You worry too much. I'm perfectly fine."

"But where have you been? You couldn't really have defected to Eggman's side… right?"

"You missed the exposition," Espio commented. "He just explained that Infinite made a fake Shadow."

Rouge looked somewhat shocked. "Infin– the Red Mask. Of course. No wonder he called it the Phantom Ruby. Why didn't I put this together before?"

"Phantom Ruby?" Silver asked calmly.

"Yes. Infinite boasted that he was able to activate it. That must be what the jewel on his chest is, and I bet Eggman sought him out just because of that. The Doctor said that anyone could have activated the prototypes."

"Prototypes?!" Vector exclaimed very loudly. "You mean there's more of them?!"

"Calm down, Big Green! They were all destroyed. They mentioned something about the Mystic Jungle, which is presumably what that attack was from a few days ago."

"It all makes sense now…" Flora mumbled. She stepped towards the center of the room and produced her own unsightly jewel to place on the table, causing everyone else to turn their attention her way. "This must be one of those prototypes. Infinite failed to destroy it, and it's in our hands now."

"Excellent!" Charmy voiced.

"Let's not put the cart in front of the horse, everyone," Tails said with a placating gesture. "I still need to analyze it to see how strong it is. There could be side effects, or something else wrong with it. It's just a prototype, after all."

"But still, there's hope," Knuckles concluded. "If it turns out well… there might be a way we can win this."

"In the meantime, I have more questions," Sonic interjected. "Shadow, if that was just a phony running around, what on earth were _you_ doing for the last six months? Why did you just up and disappear?"

"I had no choice. No military in the world could tell me apart from the fake; I doubt GUN would have had any problem attacking me on sight, just as it did the moment I associated with the Black Arms. I had better things to do than waste their resources when they needed to be fighting Eggman, like search for Omega or the Chaos Emeralds. I needed more power if I was going to defeat Infinite."

"You could have come to us for help, you know," Amy said. "We'd believe you and would fight Infinite alongside you. We could even have spread the word about the fake."

"That would be even worse, because then everyone would have been hesitant to respond when the fake showed up in a fight, not knowing if it was friend or foe. It would have destroyed them that much more quickly. No, I did what I had to do."

"Is that also how you learned about Infinite's powers?" Arc asked.

"No. That… is a much longer story."

"We have time," Sonic responded, a little impatiently.

"Fine, I will tell you. Everything…"


End file.
